The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has expressed concern over the failure of the federal and state governments to issue relevant circulars on increasing the (harmonisation) retirement age of hospital consultants to 70 years for doctors and 65 years for other healthcare workers in the country.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the MDCAN National Executive Council (NEC) meeting with the theme “Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and its Significance in Achieving Universal Health Coverage,” jointly signed by its President, Prof. Mohammed Aminu Mohammed, and Dr.Daiyabu Alhaji Ibrahim, Secretary General, and made available to newsmen in Jos, Plateau State.
It also frowned at the inability to squarely address the issue of a shortfall in the salaries of clinical lecturers (honorary consultants), occasioned by non-payment of their salary with CONMESS (the consolidated salary structure for medical and dental doctors in public service in Nigeria).
According to the association, the development, if not addressed, will be a bane in the process of sustainable production of the healthcare workforce, in addition to the abysmally low remuneration of members across many state health institutions, which will further encourage brain drain.
“We also resolved that the government as well as critical stakeholders in the healthcare sector should have strategic plans. that will ensure all Nigerians have financial, geographical, and functional access to quality healthcare.”
It further posited that the various steps outlined in the Nigerian Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) should be properly followed, while the MDCAN as well as other critical stakeholders should be involved for the effective delivery of quality healthcare to all Nigerians.
“Federal and state governments should, as a matter of urgency, address the age-long demand for the universal applicability of CONMESS to all qualified medical and dental university lecturers in the colleges of medicine and health sciences across the various universities in the country.”
The MDCAN further averred that the increase in the number of medical students admitted should be followed up by deliberate efforts by the Federal Government to increase human resources and infrastructure, such as classrooms, laboratories, and simulation laboratories, adding that they should be rapidly improved for effective training of medical students without compromising the expected standard.
It further stated that the association, as a critical stakeholder in the training of medical students and doctors, should be involved in decision-making on issues that affect their training.
The consultants also perceived the recent Federal Government policy of “no leave of absence” for any healthcare workers in its employment as discriminatory, adding that it violated their fundamental human rights as citizens of Nigeria, as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended.
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