The Nasarawa State Council of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has issued a 21-day ultimatum to Governor Abdullahi Sule to address the welfare issues facing their members or face a strike action. In a press briefing on Tuesday in Lafia, the state capital, NMA Chairman, Dr. Peter Attah, explained that the ultimatum began on June 13 and would end on July 3.
Attah stated that if the government fails to meet their demands by the end of the ultimatum, doctors would withdraw their services. Some of their demands include the non-implementation of promotions for doctors and annual salary increments for over nine years, the non-implementation of the reviewed hazard allowance circular, the non-implementation of the minimum wage and consequential adjustments, the accrued 17-month salary arrears, and high burden of taxation.
Attah also listed the acute shortage of manpower, overwork load, and a reduction of call-duty allowances as part of the current challenges faced by doctors in the state. According to him, these challenges have already forced 27 doctors to leave the services of the state in the last one month due to poor welfare package.
He reiterated that the standard ratio set by the World Health Organization recommends that one doctor attends to about 600 people. However, the ratio in Nasarawa State is one doctor to more than 20,000 people. Attah stated that an improvement in the welfare of doctors is critical in curbing the brain drain of medical professionals in the state.
Attah suggested some measures that could help improve the welfare of their members, including an upward review of hazard allowance, duty call allowances, reducing taxes and eliminating taxes on allowances, as well as giving doctors vehicle and housing loans. He urged the government to take quick action to address their demands, as doctors’ absence might further worsen the already precarious healthcare situation in the state.
