PRESIDENT Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has approved a new pay structure, the Medical Service Scale (MSS), for medical doctors under the employment of the Federal Government.
The Special Assistant on Media to the Health Minister, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, Mr. Niyi Ojuolape, told The Guardian yesterday: "The Federal Ministry of Health is pleased to announce that His Excellency, the President, has approved the Medical Service Scale (MSS) for Medical Doctors in the employment of the Federal Government.
"The consideration and approval of the new MSS is coming against the background of the conclusion of extensive deliberations and negotiations between the Federal Government's team and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) on the salary structure and allowances of medical and dental practitioners, including Specialist Allowance, Call Duty Allowance and Teaching Allowance, etc.
"We also wish to state that dialogue is going on between the representatives of other professionals within the health sector and a Federal Government team under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Labour with a view to securing a similar package to address the welfare of other health professionals employed by the Federal Government.
"It must be noted that there is already an approval in principle by the Presidency in this regard, but the detail thereof is still the subject of the ongoing deliberations, the process of which has actually begun a long time ago. It is expected that we will come to an agreement very soon on the specifics of the package, further to which we will secure the approval of the President for a long-lasting package that will address the issue of the welfare of the entire health sector.
"The Presidential approval of the MSS is a fulfilment of the undertaking given by the Minister of Health that the agreement reached with the NMA will have received the necessary approval before the end of September, 2009. In the same vein, the minister wants to seize this opportunity to assure other professionals in the sector and indeed all Nigerians that as soon as the welfare package being currently negotiated is agreed upon, the approval of the President will be sought and obtained in a very short time."
The salary structure known as the Nigerian Medical Salary Structure (NMSS) was abolished by the government 11 years ago and has been at the centre of agitation by doctors who threatened to withdraw their services at the expiration of their ultimatum last Tuesday.
Federal Ministry of Health sources told The Guardian that all the processes leading to the release of the circular, including the financial implication had been completed since July 2009.
The Guardian learnt the Salary and Wages Commission (SWC) has completed computation of the new pay for medical doctors in government hospitals and the financial implication of meeting their demands, and that it is still working on that of other health workers.
It was learnt that the SWC will have to conclude that of the other health workers before the document is sent to the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG) for onward delivery to the President and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for their assent, before it is presented to the National Assembly for approval.
The salary structure was introduced during the era of the late Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti but was abolished when government introduced the Consolidated Salary Structure, which merged the salaries of doctors with other health care workers.
Doctors under the aegis of the NMA protested the move, insisting that the merger had wiped out their relative advantage and reduced their pay.
But on assumption of duty, the incumbent minister, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin received the doctors in audience and promised that their demands would be addressed.
Under the aegis of Inter-agency committee which comprised the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, an agreement on the salary structure and allowances of medical and dental practitioners, including specialist allowance, call duty allowance, teaching allowance, among other packages, was reached and documented with all parties appending their signatures.
But government bureaucracy and the fears of possible backlash as other health workers were threatening to down tools on account of what they tagged discriminatory salary structure were said to have stalled the early release of the enabling circular.
Already, pharmacists under the aegis of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Lagos branch, had in July 2009 cautioned the Federal Government against approving a discriminatory salary for medical doctors. They said discriminatory salary wages would bring about a vicious cycle of industrial disharmony.
According to the association, the way forward is to adopt a general salary scale for all workers in the public sector in Nigeria.
By Chukwuma Muanya
Guardian Newspaper Thursday, September 24, 2009
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