Doctors in Kaduna State have called on Governor Nasir El-Rufai to urgently correct the perpetual shortfall in their salaries.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna Monday ahead of this year health week on the theme ‘Road map to universal health coverage: the journey so far’, the state chairman and secretary of NMA, Dr. Shehu Abdulrahman said doctors in the state were being paid lower than their federal counterparts.
He said the situation has continuously favored internal brain drain to federal institutions as well as neighboring states.
“Recently, there was Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the state government where it pledged to correct the salary anomaly by January 2018 but seven months into the year, the situation is still the same,” he explained.
He appealed to the state government to fulfill its part of the agreements reached in the MOU.
As part of activities slated for the health week, the association will on Tuesday begin medical screening and treatment on diabetes and hypertension for corp marshals of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
The theme of the scientific conference, he said, was carefully selected to illustrate the national situation and narrow it down to Kaduna state following the passage and signing into law of the State Health Insurance Act.
“Kaduna state is home to over 2,000 licensed practicing physicians who work both in the public and private sectors. Out of this, only about 12 percent are in the employment of the state government.
“All efforts at attaining universal health coverage must be put into consideration. There must be readiness to collaborate with the private sector which has the largest group of physicians in the state,” he stressed.
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