Governor of Borno state, Babagana Zulum, has suspended the entire staff of a general hospital in the state for allegedly abandoning their duty.
On Monday, Zulum had paid an unscheduled visit to the hospital in Ngala and found out that the resident doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and lab technicians, all on the payroll of the government were absent.
According to the governor, the staff were reported to have abandoned the hospital to an International non-governmental organisation, fhi360, to manage hundreds of patients, a majority of whom are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and residents of Ngala.
He said: “This is a General Hospital belonging to Borno state government. Unfortunately, there is no single state government staff here to attend to all these patients, and we promptly pay all of them salaries.
“These humanitarian workers from the iNGO (fhi360) are supposed to complement the state Government staff but not to completely take over the Hospital.
“I am directing the Borno State Hospitals Management Board, if there is any staff on the payroll of this Hospital, to immediately suspend all the workers on government payroll. I will be back to this hospital, hoping to see the opposite of what I saw today.”
