O'Ambulance Friction: Away From Blackmail

It is obvious that in any organization that with a staff strength of about 200 drivers and 200 paramedics which laregely are youths, there is no way there won't be friction. May be from the employer or the employees, taking into cognisance the frustration and tension in the country.

Recall, the ad-hoc staff of O-ambulance staged a protest alleging the management of the agency of poor remuneration amongst other things.

An investigation revealed that the allegations raised against the management of the agency were untrue.

No doubt, the present economic hardship in town may be the reason members of the ad-hoc staff are asking for salary increment and other benefits. Though, information has it that the management team of O'Ambulance are already working on how to increase their stipend.

Among other things, they are demanding for maternity leave for the pregnant women which is against the rules of engagement, even any where in the world. An ad-hoc staff is not entitled to maternity leave.

Further Investigation revealed that in the rule of engagement, ad-hoc staff are expected to spend two years which is renewable subject to their level of commitment and attitude to work. Among most of the ad-hoc staff there are some that have spent more than two years in their duty, while there are even some that have been there since the inception of the O' ambulance without renewing their agreement.

Also, concerning a memo that is on social media with a title "POSSESION FOR REFERRAL CASE" where both the general manager, name? and matron of O'Ambulance, name? were alleged of collecting money for the purchase of fuel from patients who was referred to another hospital because of their critical condition, investigation reveals that such memo did not emanate from the agency. However, the wordings of that memo show that it wasn't in line with civil service etiquettes, and if paradventure, it is from the agency, the officer who issue such memo must be queried.

This Newspaper confirmed from a reliable source that the allegation that the agency do collect some charges for a referring patient is not as they have insinuated. The truth of the matter is that the agency collect no charges from anybody that is referred to another hospital in Osun state. As a matter of fact, all services rendered by O'Ambulabce are free of charge without any exception.

All referrals involving children, pregnant women and all emergencies are free without any exception within Osun state, even from private hospitals to public hospitals are free. The only thing is that if the patient is referred to another hospital outside the state, then, the relative of the patient will be responsible for fuelling of the ambulance.

According to the data, the ad-hoc staff of O-ambulance only work for a week in a month. Which means they only work for 12 weeks in a year and they collect their stipends of N15,000 at the end of the month without any delay. Even the agency do pay their stipends in advance sometimes. But the problem now is that, with all these privileges they have, they are still demanding maternity leave which is not too reasonable. What they are demanding is nothing but a misplacement of priority. It's the permanent staff who are on the payroll of state government that can enjoy Maternity leave.

In our swift comparison with other ad-hoc staff Whitaker working with other sister agencies like O-yes, O-Tram, O-Waste just to mention but a few collects N10,000 per month and they work everyday from Monday to Friday. I think, for O'Ambulance to have enjoyed working a week in a month and gets their stipend fully paid, they need to be cautioned.

Also, the data revealed that they are used to the old way of only working in their local government of their origin which makes them not to be active and committed to their primary assignment. In their own wisdom, the management team introduce transferring them from one Local Government to another. The new notice obtained by our correspondent reveals that if they are transferred, to some extent, their level of distraction will be reduced. Unlike when they are working in their localities that they are prone to many distractions that may hinder the quality of their services.

The ad-hoc staff allegation accusing the agency of deducting from their Salaries, is not true. The ad-hoc staff stipend payment is not the agency's responsibility. The responsibility apportioned to them is just to prepare their stipend, forward same to the ministry of finance, and the ministry will send it to CHAMS which is the organization that is in charge of salary payment in Osun.

According to inside sources, this current leadership of the agency had performed greatly even beyond the performance of their predecessors. They are promoting accountability and transparency in their administration. They have embarked on periodic update and regular training for the ad-hoc staff.

Also, our investigation gathered that the agency is working fervently to make sure that the stipend of the ad-hoc staff is increased in order to motivate them because they are expected to increase their services too.

This reporter in his diary after thorough findings, advised the ad-hoc staff to desist from blackmailing the agency. They mustn't misuse the opportunity given to them and the privileges they are enjoying. They should stop distracting the system with their unjustifiable agitations and start collaborating with the organization in making sure that the agency is delivering their services qualitatively to the people as expected.

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