Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, has announced there are enough doctors in the country and the federal government is working to replace any doctor who resigns and leaves the country.
The claim was made by Ehanire in Abuja on Tuesday during a media conference.
He also said there is no embargo on the employment of doctors and other health workers in the country.
“There is no embargo on the employment of doctors; Where necessary, we do it. However, since there is a civil service ordinance, there are procedures before doctors are hired.
“We have heard complaints from doctors who are now leaving the system, but there are actually enough doctors in the system because we produce up to 2,000 or 3,000 doctors in the country every year and the number leaving is less than 1,000.
“It’s just that the employment process needs to be smoothed out,” he said.
The minister explained that the ministry is working with the Office of the Chief of Civil Service to implement the ‘one for one’ employment strategy so that if one doctor or nurse resigns to go abroad, another will be hired .
“So if we have a replacement, you probably won’t have a shortage.
“But it has come about because the agency chief has had the experience in the past that if one goes, the opportunity is taken to take three and the others may not even be people that are needed.
“We want to use this policy to reduce shortages and get our staff back in our hospitals,” he said.
dr Deborah Bitrus-Oghoghorie of the Department of Hospital Services said the issue of the National Association of Resident Doctors’ two-week ultimatum to the federal government to meet the association’s demands or risk a labor dispute is under review.
In her opinion, these are mainly financial issues that the ministry cannot solve on its own.
“The problems we have with the resident doctors are mainly financial problems and that is why we at the Ministry of Health cannot deal with them alone.
“What we are doing now is facilitating the resolution of the issue with the Department of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the National Commission on Salaries, Incomes and Wages (NSIWC).
“We want to assure you that the Department of Health, particularly the Department of Hospital Services, is working very hard to avert industrial action,” she added.
The Nigeria News Agency reports that on August 20, resident physicians had given the federal government a further two-week deadline to implement the payment of the new hazard pay and arrears set for December 22, 2021.
The two weeks that came into effect on Monday will expire on September 4th.
Said hazard allowance is contained in the NSIWC circular dated December 22, 2021 with the reference number SWC/S/04/S.218/11/406.
Other demands of the association include the urgent implementation and the start of the full payment of the Medical Residency Training Funds 2022 to its members according to the old model.
Also that the shortfalls will be calculated using the newly revised template and included/included in the 2023 budget and paid in arrears.
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