The Kaduna Chapter of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) has lauded Gov. Uba Sani for recently approving the full implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for medical workers in the State.
The President of the group, Dr Rufa’i Usman made the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Usman said that the approval would cover all medical practitioners working across the state government’s health facilities including those in the Primary Healthcare Board.
He said: “We wish to sincerely thank our governor Sen. Uba sani, for taking this giant step by implementing new salary for our members.”
He also said hat the recent approval by the governor for the recruitment of 89 additional medical doctors would bridge the existing manpower gap across the secondary health facilities and mitigate brain-drain in the state.
Usman said that the implementation of CONMESS was expected to take effect from September 2023.
“We can also recall that Gov. sani had earlier approved the payment of Medical Residency Training Fund(MRTF) to our members that are on the Residency programme in various federal and state tertiary institutions nationwide,” he said.
According to him, the implementation of the new salary structure would attract more medical experts to the state.
Usman said: “The magic wand recorded by the governor was miraculous and unprecedented within just 100 days and we will continue to support all good policies and programmes of the administration.”
He added that the state government had recently distributed medical equipment and consumables to all the 290 primary healthcare centres in the state with a view to addressing shortages and use of substandard equipment.
Usman said that other demands of the association still pending were the domestication and implementation of new hazard allowance and the payment of salary arrears, among others.
“We appreciate the Commissioner for Health, Hajiya Ummu Ahmad, Head of Service (HOS), Mrs Habiba Shekarau and every other stakeholder that took part in the negotiations during our strike.
“I am assuring that we will continue to engage government into dialogue towards realising all our demands.
“We pray that in the near future Kaduna state will be one of the best states in terms of healthcare delivery, least indices in maternal morbidity and mortality as well as under-five morbidity and mortality,” he said.
