Ondo NMA pleads government to pay their hazard allowance

Under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association, doctors in Ondo State have requested that the state government pay their members' hazard allowance.

The doctors urged the Sunshine State to take the necessary action, claiming that the neighboring states had started paying the stipend to their own health employees.

Dr. Omosehin Adeyemi-Osowe, the association's state chairman, made the appeal at the association's 46th annual general meeting and scientific conference, which was held in Akure, the state capital, under the topic "Medicine and the Future Economy: The Ondo State Doctor."

According to Adeyemi-Osowe, the governor broke his promise to settle their salary arrears by December, 2022.

"When our exco took over in 2022, we paid the governor a courtesy visit, and he made a number of promises," he remarked. In all honesty, he kept his promise to pay us the salary arrears that we owed by the end of last year. Our salaries are currently paid when they are due.

We do, however, face certain difficulties in several places. The state government has not yet paid the health employees' newly approved hazard allowance. According to the information we received, the government-established committee is working on it at an advanced stage, but our members are getting upset because neighboring states have begun to pay it. When we met him, the governor also mentioned that the state would pay. 

We anticipate paying the state fairly shortly.

The chairman praised association members for their perseverance and dedication to saving the health sector despite the current difficulties they were facing, saying it was important to support doctors who were still practicing in Nigeria for their unwavering dedication to the advancement of the medical profession.

Dr. Banji Ajaka, the state's commissioner for health, said during the event that the government has started a large recruitment effort to find doctors to work in all of the state's publicly funded hospitals and primary care clinics.