The chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Niger state, Dr. Abubakar Usman, has explained why medical doctors shun the service of Niger State and its attendant manpower shortage in the hospitals.
In an interview at the weekend in Minna, he identified poor remuneration and lack of competitive salary structure as reasons why medical doctors shunned the state’s service for better conditions of service.
According to him, the situation had resulted in shortage of doctors in specialised areas, saying there were a few paediatricians in government hospitals despite the high birth rate in the state.
The NMA chairman said the doctors were shunning the state government service in search of greener pastures in federal establishments, because government was paying only 80 per cent of the approved Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for medical doctors, whereas the federal government and some state governments had since upgraded to implementing the adjusted version of the CONMESS.
Dr Usman stated that apart from Minna, Bida, Kontagora and Suleja general hospitals, all other general hospitals in the state had two or three medical doctors; a number which he said was grossly inadequate.
According to him the NMA Niger state had about 400 members, with over 186 members working with the Federal Medical Centre Bida, 160 with the state government and others in private practice.
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