CONMESS is the salary structure for medical and dental officers in the federal public service. The doctors, under the umbrella of the Medical Guild, said CONMESS was implemented for their federal counterparts with its accrued arrears from July 2023.
A statement from the guild’s Chairman, Moruf Abdulsalam, said the state government should honour the agreement or prepare for a crisis.
President Bola Tinubu had in July 2023, approved a 25 per cent upward review of the CONMESS for medical and dental officers in the federal public service with effect from June 1, to tackle brain drain and guarantee industrial harmony.
Nigeria has been battling with the increasing exodus of healthcare professionals, especially doctors, pharmacists, and nurses, to developed countries.
The guild chairman highlighted that the non-payment of the revised CONMESS allowance, already implemented for doctors working with the Federal Government and in some states, has worsened the salary disparity for doctors in Lagos State. He noted that this has further worsened the already critical emigration of doctors to federal employment and overseas.
Abdulsalam decried the demotion of specialist consultants which has led to the incorrect step entry points into the public service, loss of income, low morale, and lack of interest from prospective specialists in joining the state health service.
He further expressed dissatisfaction over the non-deduction of contributory pension and National Housing Fund deductions for resident doctors in the state.
The Medical Guild chair further asserted that a recent survey showed that 91.1 per cent of doctors had manpower shortages in their department, 85.9 per cent reported burnout from being overworked and 54.4 per cent reported that their morale was low.
He expressed shock that 98.7 per cent of his members have never benefitted from the LASG Homs mortgage scheme or car loan.