By Dayo Johnson

Ondo—MEDICAL doctors and other health workers in government health facilities in Ondo town, yesterday, staged a protest against non-payment of their five month salaries by the state government.

Subsequently, medical activities were grounded throughout yesterday in the town.

Also,  both social and economic activities were paralysed following the peaceful protest.

The workers barricaded the road to the Mother and Child Hospital in Ondo and disrupted free flow of traffic for hours.

The workers including nurses, pharmacists, laboratories, records officers gathered at the Specialist Hospital, Ondo displaying different placards to express their displeasure against government  insensitivity to their plight.

They displayed placards with various inscriptions including “Pay our salaries”; “shall we die before you pay us”; “we are saving life pay our salaries and safe us from hunger.”

Lamenting their plight, some  of the protesters said life had become “so unbearable as they can no longer feed their families due to their unpaid salaries.”

Some doctors and nurses from Mother and Child hospital and trauma center said “despite their professional contributions to the medical village which had accorded it international recognition, the state government had refused to pay their salaries for five months.

Govt calls for calm

Contacted, the Information Commissioner, Kayode Akinmade appealed to the protesters to be patient with the government, saying efforts were on to pay the workers salaries in the state.