Health
DR Bako Ali, the Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Taraba chapter, has described the doctor-patient ratio in the state as “poor.”
He made the expression in Jalingo on Monday at a news conference to mark the 2022 Physicians’ Week.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NMA Physicians’ Week is an annual event during which the sacrificial works of Physicians are given prominence and doctors are celebrated.
The for this year is “Nigeria’s Health Care Delivery System and the 2023 Democratic Transition: A Time to Change the Narrative.”
The Taraba NMA chairman, who put the doctor/patient ratio at one doctor to 10,000 patients, said that the situation had made health service delivery difficult and stressful.
Ali said it was unfair that the state government had yet to implement the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for doctors in the state service.
He further said that medical doctors in the state were not receiving hazard allowances and expressed concern that the doctors were leaving the state for Federal Government-owned facilities due to poor remuneration.
He added that “let me also tell you that the same issue of poor remuneration is making doctors in federal civil service to seek for jobs abroad.”
He, however, commended the state government for ongoing rehabilitation works on General Hospitals in Wukari, Gembu and Bambur, adding that “we urge government to extend this gesture to other hospitals. The state of facilities in many hospitals in the state is discouraging.”
The chairman also urged governments at all levels to show greater commitment to the development of the health sector in the interest of public health.(NAN)
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Tags: CONMESS Dr Bako Ali NMA
