The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has stated that the federal government’s gesture of a fifty-million-naira reduction in electricity tariffs for public health and educational institutions in Nigeria is a step toward addressing some of the challenges confronting these institutions.
In a communiqué issued at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, themed “Health as a Sustainable Development Goal in Nigeria: Celebrating Our Success and Strategizing for the Future,” MDCAN urged the federal government to extend the same gesture to state-owned and private health facilities, which are also serving Nigerians.
The communiqué, jointly signed by the association’s President, Prof. Aminu Mohammad, and Secretary, Prof. Daiyabu Ibrahim, and made available to newsmen in Jos, also argued that the universal application of energy subsidies would improve healthcare delivery in the country.
MDCAN also expressed serious concern over the federal government’s failure to fully harmonize and circularize the shortfall in salaries and income losses experienced by clinical lecturers (Honorary Consultants), resulting from the non-payment of their salaries according to the CONMESS scale.
The communiqué further noted that the government has yet to respond to calls for the increase and harmonization of the retirement age for hospital consultants and other healthcare workers, despite the crippling effects of healthcare workforce migration, which has led to excessive workloads and burnout within the system.
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According to the communiqué, the NEC also noted the desire to double the quotas of medical schools to train more doctors but lamented that the federal government has not made the necessary investments in human resources and infrastructure to guarantee effective and quality medical training to achieve the policy’s objectives.
Meanwhile, the communiqué urged governments at all levels to address the lingering insecurity in and around healthcare facilities and other parts of Nigeria.
“We demand that the government take all measures at its disposal to ensure the immediate release of Prof. Philip Ephraim Ekanem (UCTH Calabar) and Dr. Ganiyat Popoola (FNPH Kaduna), as well as all other Nigerians held captive by kidnappers.”
The communiqué further called on the Visitor to Lagos State University, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to quickly intervene in the crisis building up in LASU and its College of Medicine before it further deteriorates, ensuring a quick resolution and reinstatement of the interdicted Provost.
