Medical practitioners, under the umbrella of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has issued a 21-day ultimatum to the Nigerian Government to meet its demands or face industrial disharmony.
The association stated that any increase in salaries should take into account the effects of fuel subsidy removal and the prevailing high inflation rate.
This was made known by its President, Dr Victor Makanjuola, and Secretary-General, Dr Yemi Raji, after its extraordinary National Executive Council meeting.
The statement read: “We demand the immediate review of the newly revised CONMESS circular and issuance of a new circular that would reflect the agreed percentage on both the Basic Salary and other allowances, apart from hazard allowance. This will ensure that the Clinical Lecturers (Honorary Consultants) would benefit from the upward review. We call for the correction of the error of commencement of the implementation of the upward review of CONMESS from 1st June 2023 to 1st January 2023.
We demand that the upward review of the CONMESS should take into consideration the impacts of the fuel subsidy removal and the high inflationary trend that is currently being experienced.
We demand the immediate implementation and circularization of the agreed modalities for correcting the shortfalls in remunerations of Clinical Lecturers (Honorary Consultants)
We appeal for the universal applicability of CONMESS to all Medical and Dental doctors, particularly those in public universities.
“The attention of the Government is once again called to the impact of brain drain in the health sector, which is contributing to burnout among our members and inadequate healthcare workforce to cater to the health of Nigerians. We, therefore, demand the immediate implementation of the upward review of age retirement to 70 years for Consultants and 65 years for other Health workers, as an immediate measure to bridge the ongoing massive brain drain.
The NEC hopes that all these issues will be satisfactorily resolved within the next 21 days, failing which it can no longer guarantee the present relative industrial harmony within the Government hospitals and our Medical Schools.”
