Health

THE Kaduna State chapter of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has called on the state government to implement the report of the committee on review of medical doctors and other health workers’ salaries.

The state’s NMA Chairman, Dr Madaki Sheyin, made the call on Monday in Kaduna at an event 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 theme of this year’s week-long event is “Nigeria’s Health Care Delivery System and the 2023 Democratic Transition: A Time to Change the Narrative.”

Sheyin, therefore, linked the 2022 theme of the week with the 2023 general elections, saying “the 2022 theme of the Physician’s Week is in tandem with the most important upcoming event in the country.

“The sub themes — Mitigating the Impact of Brain Drain on Dwindling Human Resource for Health and Health Reforms in the Face of Emerging Public Health Threats — were chosen to intimate government on the state of the health sector.

“The era of blind loyalty is over. Let us all patiently wait to hear the plans of the presidential candidates for Nigeria and gubernatorial candidates in Kaduna, especially in the health sector, before pitching our political support tent.

“On the sub themes, the issue of progressive depletion of human resources for health cannot be overemphasised.”

The NMA chairman also called on the state government to approve hazard allowance for doctors, saying “the Nigerian doctor is poorly paid, over worked, lacks necessary work tools and a target of kidnap.

“The Kaduna doctor is even the worse hit by this poor welfare condition. This, alongside insecurity are largely responsible for the mass exodus of doctors, causing brain drain.”

He, however, commended the state government “for significant infrastructure development, especially in the area of primary health.”

Sheyin said that the association started the week by sending relief materials to worse hit states by flood, while affected communities would also be reached for medical assistance.

He added that “I am hereby using this auspicious occasion to send a message of love and sympathy from NMA to all fellow citizens affected by the flood disaster ravaging parts of the country. We pray for quick resolution and recovery.

“We call on government at all levels to work together and help victims to recover quickly.”

He also called on the Federal Government to actively initiate measures to avert another flooding. (NAN)

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Tags: Dr Madaki Sheyin NMA