The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) have refuted claims that doctors received benefits from the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), blaming the claim as false and putting the rise in industrial unrest in the sector.
In response to the NLC and TUC’s ultimatum regarding the ongoing nationwide industrial action by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), Dr. Mannir Bature made this known while speaking to journalists on Monday in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.
According to the NMA, CONMESS did not improve in 2014 as claimed by organized labor. Instead, it stated that the salary structure’s implementation had been corrected in accordance with existing approvals and public service standards.
Nigerian Medical Association’s national publicity secretary
The organization argued that fixing the problem cannot be confused with upgrading or receiving preferential treatment, and that the action only restored CONMESS to its initial approval.
Read more about JOHESU Telling Nigerians about the impact of the strike on the country’s healthcare system.
The NMA wishes to unambiguously state that CONMESS was not upgraded in any way as was falsely claimed. In spite of widespread public service guidelines and clear approvals, a long-standing error and distortion in the CONMESS framework’s application was corrected.
Context was only reinstated in its proper and approved position by this corrective action. A correction of an anomaly is not regarded as an improvement by every objective, technical, and administrative definition, according to the statement.
The NMA cautioned against portraying the correction as a special treatment for doctors, which would lead to unnecessary interprofessional conflict in a systemic setting where the health sector is dealing with serious issues.
It also expressed concern about the labor unions’ public ultimatums, which it described as being incongruent, and called on the NLC and TUC to be restrained and refrain from spreading false information about sensitive remuneration issues.
The NMA is particularly concerned about the conflicting language and public ultimatums regarding matters that call for thorough investigation, technical understanding, and institutional engagement.
We urge TUC and NLC to use restraint, caution, and responsibility in their public statements, particularly when it comes to sensitive salary structure issues, to avoid misinforming employees or the general public, it continued.
The association urged the Federal Government to continue supporting the ongoing Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) process as a legitimate and sound forum for addressing issues involving the health sector’s industrial and welfare concerns.
Additionally, it urged the government to prioritize workforce rationalization, which improves frontline clinical services, particularly through the retention and incentivization of doctors and nurses, and advocated structured outsourcing of non-core support services to increase efficiency and service delivery.
The NMA also emphasizes the need for the government to prioritize efficiency, service delivery, and patient outcomes.
The association argued that “more policy attention should be focused on retaining, strengthening, and incentivising frontline clinical workers, particularly doctors and nurses, who are in charge of direct patient care and clinical decision-making,”
Source: Channels TV
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