FG, states asked to issue retirement age adjustment circulars for doctors, health workers

The Federal and state governments have been called upon to issue the relevant circular on the harmonisation of the retirement age of hospital Consultants to 70 years for doctors and 65 years for other healthcare workers in the country.

The call was made by the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) which said it also observed with grave concern their persistent inability to squarely address the issues of shortfall in salaries of clinical lecturers (Honorary Consultants), occasioned by non-payment of their salary with CONMESS (the consolidated salary structure for Medical and Dental Doctors in public service in Nigeria).

This was contained in a communique issued yesterday in Jos the Plateau State capital at the end of MDCAN’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.

The communique which was jointly signed by MDCAN President, Prof Mohammed Aminu Mohammed and Dr Daiyabu Alhaji Ibrahim Secretary General, said the development if not addressed will be the bane in the process of sustainable production of the healthcare workforce.

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“We resolved that the government, as well as critical stakeholders in the healthcare sector, should have strategic plans that will ensure all Nigerians have financial, geographical and functional access to quality healthcare.

“The various steps outlined in the Nigerian Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) should be properly followed, and MDCAN as well as other critical stakeholders should be involved for effective delivery of quality healthcare to all Nigerians.

“Federal and State governments should as a matter of urgency, address the age-long demand of universal applicability of CONMESS to all qualified medical and dental university lecturers in the Colleges of Medicine/Health Sciences across the various universities in the country.

“The increase in the numbers of medical students admitted should be followed up by deliberate efforts by the Federal Government, to increase human resources, infrastructures such as classrooms, laboratories and simulation laboratories should be rapidly improved upon for effective training of medical students without compromising the expected standard, the communique partly read.”

The association also stressed that as a critical stakeholder in the training of trainers of medical students and doctors should be involved in decision-making on issues that affect their training.