The Nigerian Medical Association has threatened to take “appropriate action” if the Federal Government failed to urgently address the issue of non-payment of salaries of doctors in its employment.
The NMA said the Federal Government had owed its member for several months.
The NMA said the Federal Government had owed its member for several months.
The association in Abuja on Monday attributed the delay in their payment to the irregularities in the implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System for federal health workers.
President of NMA, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, in a communiqué at the end of its National Executive Council meeting on Monday added that the association had also extended by four weeks the 21-day ultimatum it issued in August to the Federal Government to fix the myriad of challenges bedevilling the health sector.
He noted that the extension of the ultimatum was to allow for implementation of the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding within the government timelines.
“If the Federal Government fails to implement the MoU after the expiration of the four weeks extension, NMA would take appropriate actions without further warning,” Enabulele said.
He added, “In appraising the observed implementation of the MoU thus far, NEC unanimously resolved to extend by four weeks the subsisting ultimatum to allow for implementation of the elements of the MoU within government set timelines.
“At the expiration of the four weeks extension, the NMA shall reappraise the commitment of the Federal Government to the implementation of the MoU and take appropriate actions she deems fit without further warning.”
He bemoaned what he described as the ‘untold hardship’ being suffered by “hardworking medical professionals and their dependents on account of the non-payment of their wages.”
He said the association’s NEC also reviewed the persisting and widening circle of irregularities in the remuneration of its members, occasioned by the implementation of the IPPIS despite previous assurances by the Federal Government to rectify the problem.
“NEC has resolved to take necessary actions to protect the interest of her members if government fails to urgently and permanently resolve the unacceptable irregularities evident in the current implementation of the IPPIS scheme,” he said.
