Medical, dental consultants, issue 21-day strike notice to FG

By Sola ADEMOLA

The Federal Government has been given 21 days to meet the demands of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) or face its strike action.

MDCAN disclosed in a communique signed by its President, Dr Victor Makanjuola, and Secretary-General, Dr Yemi Raji following its virtual extraordinary National Executive Council meeting, Tuesday.

The NEC expressed displeasure at the failure of government to implement an agreement on the upward review of CONMESS and the introduction of Accoutrements allowance, as released in a circular that contains the percentage increase on the basic salary, as against applying it to both the basic salaries and all allowances except hazard allowance.

The communique read, “This error has resulted in the complete exclusion of the clinical lecturers (Honorary Consultants) from benefiting from the upward review. The commencement date for the new circular was agreed to be January 1, 2023, rather than June 1, 2023.

“We believe this error will be corrected without delay. The recent upward review of CONMESS did not take into consideration the consequences of the fuel subsidy removal and exponential inflation that has pervaded our socio-economic space in the past three months.

“Despite our association’s decision to keep faith with the engagement and negotiations with the National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission for more than two years regarding the correction of the shortfalls in remuneration for Clinical Lecturers (Honorary Consultants), the issue is yet to be conclusively addressed by the Federal Government,” it noted.

The council said it observed the non-universal implementation of CONMESS for all medical and dental doctors irrespective of the agencies of the government they are working with.

The council therefore condemned the failure of the government to appreciate the magnitude of the impacts of brain drain in the health sector, as exhibited by the refusal of the National Council on Establishment to approve the Federal Ministry of Health’s proposal on the upward review of the age of retirement for the Medical and Dental Consultants and other health workers.