EXCLUSIVE: Hazard Allowance Not Enough, Nasarawa Government Must Do More For Doctors, Other Health Workers – Nasarawa NMA Chairman
The Chairman of the Nasarawa State Chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr. Peter Attah has said that the Nasarawa State Government has to do more than paying hazard allowance to doctors and other health workers in the State in order to meet their demands.
He stated this in an exclusive interview with Eggonnews in reaction to the news that health workers in the employ of the Nasarawa State Government had received hazard allowance while receiving their salaries for the month of April 2024.
In the interview which held over the phone on Monday (April 29, 2024), Dr. Peter Attah said while they appreciate the State Government for paying hazard allowance, it still fell short of what was required in order to motivate the health workers to continue doing their jobs.
He said: “I have commended the Nasarawa State Government for following this path to implement the hazard allowance. For my members the doctors in the State, they got an increment between N27,000 to N35,000 depending on the grade level. But when you are considering the entire health workers in the State, the increment that they got in their salaries is between N10,000 to N35,000 also depending on the level because when we talk about healthcare workers, it is not only the technical staff that provide the services. Even the attendants that clean the hazardous wastes in the hospital, they are also healthcare workers and they are also exposed to hazards so they were also paid.
“However, like Oliver Twist – and we have already made this clear to the government – while they have taken this measure to ensure that the healthcare workers get this welfare package, we also mentioned to them that last time that there are other welfare issues that demand their attention. Our greatest challenge as NMA is the brain drain and the japa syndrome.”
The State NMA Chairman went further to explain the situation thus: “For the brain drain, we have the internal brain drain where you have some of our colleagues that work with the State Government and then some that work with the Federal Government within the same State; the gap in their salary is also pushing a lot of our members to leave the Nasarawa State Government to pick up appointment with the Federal Government, providing the same services that they would have provided in the State health facilities.
“As I stated in the meeting we had with the State Government, the gaps in the salaries could be close to N300,000 per month. And so some times, even when some of our members want to stay, but with the current economic reality – we have all seen the high cost of living with food stuff and so many basic necessities out of reach – our members are actually tempted. If you see this gap as huge as N300,000 per month, our members actually tempted to move from the State Government. For example, Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital and FMC Keffi are on the same level of healthcare service delivery. They are all tertiary institutions but you will see a situation whereby doctors leave Lafia after putting in some reasonable years, and because they feel the gap in salary is there and they still have the bills of their dependents on them, they leave for FMC Keffi. So we actually made a case to the State Government for them to also implement other welfare packages.”
Commenting on other welfare packages, the NMA Chairman spoke on the consequential minimum wage as well as promotions which according to him, the State Government has stopped since 2017 thereby stagnating the careers of a lot of medical doctors.
He also spoke about the huge tax burden especially on doctors working at the Federal Medical Centre Keffi as well as the need for the State Government to hire more doctors so as to reduce the pressure on the few that are in the State health facilities.
A full text of the interview can be gotten here.
