Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, in Kwara State has rejected the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission’s, NSIWC, review of allowances for medical and dental officers in the federal civil service.
According to its Chairman, Professor AbdulRahman Afolabi, the review is unacceptable and fails to address the welfare issues affecting doctors in Nigeria.
The state chairman of NMA made this known at a news conference in Ilorin, the state capital.
The association is supporting the 21-day ultimatum issued to the federal government to address welfare issues affecting doctors and called for the immediate suspension of the circular pending a stakeholder roundtable.
The NMA warned that failure to address these demands may lead to crisis in the health sector, potentially resulting in brain drain.
“The NMA, Kwara State branch strongly condemns and rejects NSIWC’s circular dated June 27 regarding the review of allowances for medical and dental officers in the federal public service.
“We also fully support the 21-day ultimatum issued to the federal government to address all welfare issues affecting doctors in Nigeria,” Afolabi said.
He expressed concern over the implications of the circular, which he said, “attempts to adjust CONMESS, but inadvertently or perhaps deliberately erodes relativity”.
He added that the development has also worsened workforce inequity and threatened the already fragile medical workforce in the country.
Afolabi expressed NMA’s disappointment at NSIWC’s decision to disregard the collective bargaining agreement reached with the union in 2001, 2009 and 2014.
He warned that the circular has the potential to undermine morale and productivity in an already overstretched health system.
He observed that it can also accelerate brain drain, particularly among doctors and dentists, and worsen the doctor-to-patient ratio, which is currently 1:5,000, far below the World Health Organisation’s recommended 1:600.
Afolabi noted that the development could spark industrial disharmony at a time when stability is desperately needed.
He rejected the current implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, CONMESS.
“We demand immediate suspension of the circular pending a stakeholder roundtable and call for restoration of relativity in line with the agreements reached in previous reforms,” he said.
