TheCable

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) says its demand for a pay rise is not outrageous.

On Saturday, NARD threatened to embark on strike if the government fails to meet its demands within two weeks.

The association demanded a 200 percent upward review of the consolidated medical salary structure (CONMESS) and payment of the salary arrears to resident doctors.

Reacting, Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, had described the demands as “absurd”, adding that the resident doctors demonstrate an “entitlement syndrome”.

Speaking during a Channels Television programme on Tuesday, Innocent Orji, NARD president, said doctors and nurses were not part of the last minimum wage increase.

He said any increment to their pay should be based on the inflation rate from 2009 till date.

“When people hear that we are demanding 200 percent upward review, it may sound outrageous but we didn’t just come up with that figure. I’ll give an instance, the exchange rate then was N152/$1. We know what it is today. The fuel price then was N65/litre. We know the amount today and there is even an imminent increment,” he said.

“When the minimum wage was N18,000, the equivalence in dollars was 91. Now it is N30,000. This thing is not about increment but can you increase this in a way that the take-home of Nigerian doctors and indeed other health professionals will be good enough to make them stay in their country?

“We know the country can afford it. All that is needed is to increase budgetary allocation. The percentage of budget allocated to health for this year is 5.7. You cannot be able to meet up with that kind of allocation.

“They have not started obeying the Abuja declaration since 2001. In 2001, Nigeria entered into an agreement that it will be allocating minimum of 15 percent to health but has not done so.

“We are not even asking for what is paid outside the country, we are just saying pay us something that matches the economic status of the country and standard of living. It’s only when you do so that people will decide to stay in the country.”