UUTH resident doctors raise alarm over unpaid salary arrears, increased workload

The Association of Resident Doctors at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Akwa Ibom State, has raised the alarm over the failure of the hospital management to pay five months’ salary arrears owed to newly employed members, as well as the delay in correcting their wrongly assigned CONMESS entry level.

This was contained in a communiqué endorsed by Drs. Promise Jacob and Enam-Eti Akpan, President and General Secretary of the association, respectively, in Uyo on Wednesday, at the end of a virtual emergency meeting held on Sunday, September 5.

The association regretted the inability of the management to address some of the concerns raised in its last communiqué of July 31 and October 1, 2025, saying it had no option but to proceed on a seven-day warning strike effective 8:00 a.m. on Monday, October 6, 2025.

Some of the concerns raised by the association, as contained in the communiqué, include: “The 2023 set of employed residents are yet to receive their accumulated salary arrears. Existing manpower deficits across all departments are resulting in increasing workload, fatigue, and workplace burnout. The House Officers’ Quarters and Call Rooms remain in a deplorable state, with negligible maintenance from the Works Department.”

The association therefore called on the hospital management to correct and implement the proper CONMESS entry level for all newly employed resident doctors and re-issue appointment letters to reflect the corrected CONMESS level, upgrade members to their current grade levels with prompt payment of the corresponding arrears, and pay the three members affected by failed biometric capture immediately via the GIFMIS platform, pending correction on the IPPIS platform.

Other demands raised by the association include the urgent employment of additional resident doctors across all departments to address manpower shortages and mitigate workplace burnout, as well as the renovation and proper maintenance of the House Officers’ Quarters and Call Rooms.

The communiqué concluded that an Emergency General Meeting (EGM) shall be convened at the expiration of the seven-day warning strike to review management’s response and determine further actions, even as it pledged readiness to deliver quality healthcare, but not to the detriment of members’ legitimate welfare.