RE: NMA Rejects Planned Harmonisation of Health Workers Salaries

 

The story captioned above in the Guardian Newspaper Online refers. Ordinarily, the Association of hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria (AHAPN) does not delight in joining issues with sister associations in the healthcare sector just for the fun of it, but we are constrained to put the records straight as a result of certain misinformation and deliberate, but veiled falsehood contained in the said publication. the NMA alleged among other things that: "although health workers.faced many hazards in the discharge of their ditties, their output could not be compared to doctors who performed the hulk of the medical services". Nothing can be further from the truth. 

 

Every profession in the healthcare sector has its scheme of service which clearly stipulates job description and corresponding remuneration as approved by the relevant regulatory agencies. The NMA cannot continue to undermine and denigrate other professionals in the health sector. by virtue of the privileges her members enjoy as ministers of health and headship of federal governmental agencies in the health sector, including federal tertiary health institutions. 

 

It is imperative to make it known to the Nigerian public that the Nigerian Medical Doctors are responsible for the rot in our healthcare delivery system. Her members who are the Chief Medical Directors/MDs are the major instruments of decadence as they encourage corrupt practices, frank embezzlement and misappropriation of the funds made available for our healthcare system. The recent discoveries of misappropriation and outright theft of the funds made available by GAVI Foundation is a pointer to this. The current arraignment of the CMD of UCTH by EFCC is another example. There arc many more.

 

Healthcare delivery worldwide is a collaborative process, with the patient as the centre of attraction. Every professional has a role to play to ensure optinium patient care. There is nothing fantastic about Nigeria's healthcare sector today under the leadership by coercion of NMA. It is an open secret that our healthcare sector is in shambles today, due largely to *undue territoriality that is the hallmark of Nigerian doctors as against the need to strengthen professionalism. 

 

In developed societies; every health professional has a defined role to play in the delivery of healthcare. The medical doctor by virtue of his training makes a diagnosis, the pharmacist makes drugs available following the principle of rational drug therapy and pharmaceutical care, the medical laboratory scientist works hard to ensure laboratory tests are carried out to aid diagnosis. There is also a role for dieticians, physiotherapists and others, all collaborating for optimum patient care and better patient outcomes, in line with international best practice

 

The NMA also alleged that 'medical doctors are highly skilled and few in the country, the cut-off mark for medical students is 280 and above'. Again we make bold to say that virtually every professional in the healthsector, especially the pharmacist is highly skilled. Pharmacists are even fewer than the medical doctors (compare 40,000 doctors to 20,000 pharmacists) because of the extensive and rigorous training we undergo. We state emphatically that cut-off mark is only a relative method of assessing level of intelligence or academic crilliance and that is why it varies from year to year and from school to school. The true yardstick for measuring intelligence remains intelligent Quotient (IQ) Test, which remains constant. Some pharmacy schools have same, lower or higher cut-off marks than medicine. Cut of mark is not a guide or indicator of who will be a successful professional. It is easier to change course from pharmacy or any other science to medicine than to change to pharmacy - only the best and the toughest survive pharmacy training.

 

The Nigerian Medical doctors and especially the NMA have an over bloated ego about their importance, yet the Nigerian Healthcare system is near comatose. Elsewhere in the world, including African countries, all healthcare workers are accorded their due respect by all. Just recently in Ghana, their medical association caller out doctors on strike to protest whatever, the Ghananian government gave them a deadline to resume work or be replaced with Asian trained doctors. Of course the doctors capitulated and went back to work without haveing their demands met. Were it to be in Nigeria, such issue would have been handled with kid's glove

 

We say it is high time the Nigeian government calls the bluff of NMA, which has continued to abuse the privileges accorded her over the years with impunity. The rest of the world is forging ahead to render excellent medical practice and the NMA had better wake up from her slumber or be left behind.

 

Else where in the world, especially in advanced climes where health indices are very near ideal like in the USA, Canada, Scandinavian countries and even in Burundi here in Africa, consultant nurse prescribers and consultant clinical pharmacist prescribers are the order of the day

 

We at AHAPN are in support of the planned harmonization of healthcare workers salaries. This harmonization should be based on the outcome of a job evaluation committee report of 2008 by the Federal ministry of health, federal ministry of labour and National salaries income and wages commission. We strongly believe that this will be one sure panacea for peace in the healthcare sector in Nigeria. Professionals should be remuneerated based on actual input to patient care and not by how much noise is made by their parent bodies. The federal government should go a step further and rotate leadership of the federal ministry of health and Federal tertiary health institutions among all qualified professionals in the health sector. This will engender healthy competition among the healthcare team for the overall good of Nigerian patients. 

 

Enough is Enough

 

Pharm Martins Oyewole

National Chairman AHAPN

 

Pharm Jelili Kilani

National Secretary AHAPN