The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako has appealed to resident doctors to exercise patience, assuring them that their long-awaited allowances will soon be paid.
Dr. Salako, who spoke during an interview on Arise Television on Thursday, disclosed that the Federal Government had already processed the funds through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), with disbursement expected to reflect in the doctors’ accounts any moment.
“As early as this evening, the allowances should start dropping. I know that the money has already entered the IPPIS account and is due for disbursement. So, I expect that the doctors will begin to receive payment very shortly,” the minister said.
The assurance comes amid mounting tension as the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) issued a fresh 24-hour ultimatum to the government after its earlier 10-day deadline expired on September 10.
The association, following a six-hour virtual meeting of its National Executive Council on Wednesday, resolved to down tools if its demands remained unmet.
While acknowledging that health workers across the country were overworked and under pressure, Salako stressed that dialogue, not strikes, remained the best path to resolving disputes in the health sector.
“We recognise their grievances and we are engaging with them. Beyond allowances, other demands are also being addressed through ongoing collective bargaining meetings involving doctors, nurses, and other health workers.
“These processes take time, but I can assure Nigerians that government is committed to finding lasting solutions,” he said.
The minister further noted that although some of the challenges facing the sector such as inadequate power supply in hospitals cannot be solved overnight, government was working to create the right policy environment and leverage public-private partnerships to ease the burden on health facilities.
