FG pays health workers one month out of six months arrears after PUNCH Healthwise reports
Sodiq Ojuroungbe
…Doctors, nurses, insist on total payment
After multiple reports by PUNCH Healthwise revealed the plight of doctors, nurses, and Community Health Extension Workers employed under its Expanded Midwives Service Scheme, the Federal Government, through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency has paid just one out of the seven months outstanding salaries owed.
However, the affected health workers are insisting on complete payment of their arrears.
It was gathered that the NPHCDA insisted that the healthcare workers deployed to rural communities must input data from February and March into the electronic log book and complete clearance before the outstanding two months’ arrears would be paid.
PUNCH Healthwise had reported that the unpaid accumulated salaries and alleged ill-treatment from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency and Sydani Group had left the health workers traumatised, impoverished, and stranded.
The report with the headline, ‘How FG scheme for improved maternal, child health in rural areas, impoverished health workers’, was published on Sunday, March 17, 2024.
It chronicled how the health workers, who always work for long hours, get little support from the FG.
While some alleged that the NPHCDA owed them up to six months, others claimed to be owed two, three, and four months, respectively.
Many of them told PUNCH Healthwise that they were redeployed to rural areas, far from their homes, and had left behind dependants.
While noting that they are doing their best to serve the communities and by extension, Nigeria, the health workers said the lack of resources and support from the government has made their jobs quite difficult.
Reacting to the report after it was published, the Communications Adviser to the agency, Dr Abubakar Jimoh, promised that the arrears would be paid before the week elapsed.
However, the NPHCDA Director, Community Health Services, Dr Maimuna Hamisu in a new memo sent to all the executive secretaries of SPHCB/A across states where the scheme is taking place simultaneously, stated that the payment processes for February and March were yet to be established, while a substantial number of skilled birth attendants have not completed their clearance.
While intimating our correspondent with the development, some of the health workers said the payment was just for January, and alleged that based that the FG was not ready to pay for February and March, 2024, based on the tone of the memo.
Some claimed that the FG still owed arrears for August, October, November, and December 2023.
Although the Communications Adviser to the agency, claimed that the salary arrears of the affected health workers for 2023 had been paid, he clarified that there are some exceptional cases in which the online payments failed or were unintentionally left out in the clearance conducted by the states.
But the health workers during interaction with PUNCH Healthwise said the payment of one out of several months’ arrears has done little to alleviate their financial burden.
They lamented that they are still struggling to make ends meet, urging the NPHCDA to pay up the arrears.
They, however, expressed appreciation to PUNCH Healthwise, stressing that several reports by the organisation forced the government to pay the one month salary.
One of the doctors simply identified as Dr. Akunyili said, “We are grateful that the FG has finally responded after PUNCH multiple reports focused on our plight.
“But it’s frustrating that we are still being owed. We work hard to provide healthcare to communities in remote areas and it is disheartening to feel like our contributions are not valued.”
“The FG’s actions have left us feeling disappointed and disrespected,” said Ugochukwu Nwosu, a nurse working in Anambra State.
“We put our lives and health at risk every day to serve our communities but we are not being treated with the dignity we deserve. It’s not just about the money, it’s about respect and recognition for our work,” she maintained
A rural doctor in Delta State, Dr. Nwobodo said, “We are not asking for much. We want to be paid fairly for work done and treated with dignity and respect. But instead, we are treated like second-class citizens.
“The FG may have paid for one month but they can’t pay for the emotional toll that this experience has taken on us.
“We have been pushed to our breaking points, and many of us are considering leaving the profession altogether. A single payment of the arrears can’t erase the debt and pain we carry.”
A nurse deployed to Ubimini in Rivers State, Godfrey Chuku also said, “I sincerely appreciate PUNCH Healthwise for the series of reports that shed light on our plights. We will track those who have received the arrears. Though they’re just paying January’s salary and leaving that of February and March, 2024, we don’t know when they will pay what is left. Only God knows when they will pay.
“Another disturbing part is that those owed from August to December 2023 have not received any payment.”
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