NMA protests appointment of doctors as casual workers

NMA President, Dr. Osahon Enabulele

Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, has called on state governments to reverse locum appointment of doctors in their employ.

Enabulele made this call during the opening ceremony of ‘Eko 2013: 53rd Annual General Conference and Delegates Meeting of the association in Lagos on Thursday.

He appealed to the Lagos State Government to reconsider the appointment of locum doctors and the full implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale for doctors.

Enabulele said, “I wish to appeal to our resourceful Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) to proclaim an end to the casualisation of doctor’s employment in the state and the implementation of the appropriate CONMESS salary structure for doctors in the public service of Lagos state.”

The NMA boss stated that employing doctors on casual basis could mar the delivery of quality health care by medical professionals and inevitably lead to brain drain in the state.

Enabulele, who spoke on the theme of the conference, ‘e-health and its potential to deliver for improving quality health care’, called on government at all levels to embrace e-health as tool for improving access to health services by Nigerians, even in the remotest areas of the country.

He stated, “Evidence has shown that developing countries like India, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have sustainable health care systems because they embraced e-technology in health care delivery. Nigeria, in the face of limited resources and acute-on-chronic shortage of medical and health care manpower, needs it to improve the health and development indices of the country.”

Enabulele called on the National Assembly to speedily pass the National Health Bill, despite the temporary setback it suffered during its consideration at the Senate last month.

The Senate had faulted the funding of the National Primary Health Care Development Fund from the Consolidated Fund of Federation.

He said, “We wish to repeat that no amount of resources, including the allocation of two per cent of the Consolidated Fund of the Federation to the National Primary Healthcare Development Fund should be considered too much to invest in health which is critical ingredient for the engendering national prosperity.”

Enabulele urged the lawmakers not to politicise the provisions in the health bill and use their statutory right to make laws for the good governance of the country.

PUNCH