The Federal Government and the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA are expected to continue their dialogues next week, on the proposed new hazard allowance for doctors working in government owned hospitals.
Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige announced this at a meeting of the Presidential Committee on Salaries with the leadership of the Association and its affiliates, on the review of the hazard allowance in the health sector.
Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, in the ministry, Charles Akpan, stated this in a statement in Abuja.
Ngige however, recalled that the negotiation had begun with all the health workers since March, but along the line, the NMA disagreed on fundamental principles of negotiation with the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU.
The Minister also noted that the President of the Association demanded that the dialogue should be compartmentalised, which is allowed in any Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA.
He, therefore, appealed to the NMA and JOHESU to sheath their swords, to enable the conclusion of the matter before the end of September.
Ngige, while commenting on the prolonged strike of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD called on the striking resident doctors to note their insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians, by embarking on strike in the middle of a pandemic.
He maintained that the Federal Government had been religiously implementing its own part of the Memorandum of understanding, MOU.
Also, the Secretary General of NMA Philip Ekpe, who called for prompt attention to resolve the anarchy in the health sector, also urged the ministry to explore the window opened by the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari to see that all the negotiations were not in vain.
