Health workers at the Ondo State Specialist Hospital in Ikare Akoko on Monday protested over the non payment of their November salary after an accountant with the hospital absconded with their salary.

The workers including doctors and nurses and staff of the hospital converged on the hospital gates causing traffic gridlock along the ever busy road.

According to a source, the workers had to protest over the non payment of the salary when it dawn on them that the Accounting Officer for the hospital, Mr Aminu Kamilu, had absconded with about their salary

The source disclosed that the salary of the workers learnt about the ugly development on Thursday and had to wait till Monday morning to confirm the development.

He said Kamilu absconded with about N15m meant for the payment of the worker’s salary and all effort by the leadership of the hospital board did not yield positive result over the weekend.

The protesting workers however called on the state government to urgently arrest and prosecute the suspected fraudulent accountant before adding to their predicament over unpaid salaries by the state government.

The Chairman of the Hospital Management Board, Dr Niran Okunrinbiye, who visited the hospital appealed to the protesting workers to return to their office with a pledge that government will soon find solution to the problem.

The chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Kolawole Ezekiel, said the workers will embark on an indefinite strike if the state government failed to attend to the situation, saying "we will soon embark on strike to press home for the payment of their November salary."

He said nurses will down tools as from today (Tuesday) until the salaries of the nurses and other health workers are paid.