THE Federal Ministry of Health has been urged by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to act quickly on the “one-for-one policy” regarding the replacement of exiting physicians and clinical personnel in order to lessen the country’s manpower crisis caused by brain drain.
The organisation issued the request in a statement yesterday following its national executive council (NEC) meeting in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, which was also signed by its president, Dr. Emeka Innocent Orji.
NARD lamented the poor response of most state governments in domesticating the Medical Residency Training Act, 2017, six years after it was signed into law.
It demanded that the federal government immediately begin the process of paying the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) for 2023, in order to allow its members to use the funds for the February update courses and the March/April/May examination.
The association requested further that the federal government pay its deserving members’ skipping arrears for the years 2014, 2015, and 2016 as well as the shortfall resulting from the minimum wage’s subsequent increase.
It also urged that “the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) Review Committee’s (activities) be expedited and that NARD be carried along in the processes for her inputs to be made to avoid unnecessary outcomes.”
The association called on the federal government, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and other stakeholders to prevail on Governor Victor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and his Ekiti, Imo and Ondo counterparts to pay 25, three, 10 and five months owed to their colleagues.
