By Desire Emmanuel
Doctors under the aegis of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD” seem to be spoiling for a showdown with the Federal Government whom they accused of engaging in ‘pay injustice’ by downgrading newly-employed doctors.
It accused the Federal Government of downgrading the new doctors from Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) 3 to CONMESS 2, adding that this is unacceptable to the association.
Resident doctors are medical graduates who have completed their undergraduate studies and are undergoing specialised training in a specific area of medicine or surgery.
They’re essentially doctors who are pursuing further education and hands-on experience in a particular field to become consultants or specialists and they work mostly at teaching hospitals, federal medical centres, among others.
However, the association, in a statement on Thursday, October 16, disclosed that contrary to agreement reached between it and the government that newly-employed doctors should be placed on CONMESS 3 step 3, the doctors are currently placed on CONMESS 2 step 2, saying the downgrade is unacceptable.
The resident doctors therefore urged the Federal Government to urgently reverse what it described as an “anomaly” which was rectified in 2015 only for it to resurface this year in various federal hospitals. It also urged the government to refund all the affected newly-employed doctors.
The NARD wrote: “After years of struggle to correct pay injustice, newly-employed resident doctors are once again being downgraded from CONMESS 3 Step 3 to CONMESS 2 Step 2.
“We demand that this anomaly be urgently reversed and all affected doctors compensated. Fair pay is not a privilege, it’s a right.”
