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CONMESS

By Oluwafunke Ishola

Lagos, June 5, 2024 (NAN) Doctors under the aegis of the Medical Guild have appealed to the Lagos State Government to expedite the implementation of the reviewed Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS) for medical doctors in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Medical Guild is the association of doctors under the employment of the Lagos State Government.

Dr Moruf Abdulsalam, Chairman, Medical Guild, made the appeal during a news conference on Wednesday in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that CONMESS is the salary scale being paid to all Medical and Dental practitioners across the Federation.

CONMESS was adopted to prevent internal brain drain and rural-urban migration among doctors.

Abdulsalam expressed dissatisfaction over the slow bureaucratic bottlenecks causing delay in the implementation of the reviewed CONMESS wage increase in Lagos.

He noted that colleagues in the employment of the Federal government had already started enjoying the payment since February 2024, with its accrued arrears.

The chairman recalled that resolution reached at its General Assembly meeting held on April 27, resolved to give the state government four weeks timeline to assent and implement the CONMESS wage.

Abdulsalam noted that the Medical Guild Representative Council, at her meeting of June 2, expressed strong dissatisfaction over the slow pace of progress on the implementation of the reviewed CONMESS wage.

He disclosed that the Council resolved that the association should declare an industrial dispute over the slow pace of work and bureaucratic bottlenecks delaying the implementation of the reviewed CONMESS wage.

“⁠That the Association should further give the government three weeks period in line with the resolution reached by the General Assembly.

“⁠That the Officers’ Committee should escalate and call a General Assembly of the medical Guild at the Secretariat at the expiration of the three weeks to decide the next line of action,” he said.

Abdulsalam noted that the practice of medicine had become a globally competitive profession with a resultant migration of medical personnel to environment with better remuneration and improved conditions of service among other push factors.

“Recently too, there has been a rural to urban migration of doctors but more worrisome to the medical Guild is the spate of resignation of our doctors from the employment of the Health Service Commission, LASUTH and Primary Healthcare Board, to private medical practice or Federal hospitals.

“This is due to poor remuneration, excessive workload and poor service conditions.

“This has tilted many of our colleagues into chronic fatigue, mental illnesses and burnout syndrome,” he said.

He disclosed that a recent online survey conducted by the Guild which 940 of its members responded, showed that 91 per cent of doctors reported manpower shortage in the department and hospitals where they work.

According to him, 59 per cent reported an increase in the number of call duties being undertaken by them in the last one year, 86 per cent reported being overworked and 54 per cent reported low morale.

“Not surprisingly too, there has been a surge in mental illness among our doctors mainly from the excessive workload and poor conditions of service,” he said.

He recalled that doctors sustained the provision of critical services to citizens at the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, while other workers continued to work from home.

Abdulsalam further said that the state recently rolled out free antenatal and delivery services, provision of bi-weekly community health mission over three months as part of measures to ameliorate economic hardship on citizens.

“Also, while other civil servants were granted the respite to work from home on some days of the week, the doctors remained within the confines of the hospital every day of the week because of a “special calanderisation” exists within the health sector!

“From the foregoing, it is apparent that the doctors have now become part of the palliative deployed to cater for the health needs of the good people of Lagos State without themselves being considered for commensurate compensation to survive the progressively heavy workload that these policy initiatives thrust upon them.

“This is in addition to the regular workload thrust upon them as clinicians and leaders of the healthcare team,” he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

AIO/VIV

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Edited by Vivian Ihechu

Training
By Sani Idris
Kaduna, June 5, 2024 (NAN) UNICEF, in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), trained no fewer than 1,080 adolescent girls in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State in tailoring and hairdressing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was funded by UNICEF.

The UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kaduna, Gerida Birukila, said during the graduation ceremony in Kaduna on Wednesday that the girls were exposed to violence, abuse and neglect, which prompted the idea to empower them with the training.

Birukila, who was represented by the UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, Dr Wilfred Mamah, added that “the advent of COVID-19 brought the reality to light, where UNICEF found out that a lot of Almajiri and adolescent girls were on the streets.”

She said that the programme was conceptualised by UNICEF to know the number of children that are out of school in Kaduna, where a primary research revealed a lot of numbers.

“We are able to document 107,000 adolescent girls out of school and have nothing to do. They were exposed to physical, sexual and emotional violence.

“We went around asking questions on what the girls really want, and many of them were asking for skills acquisition. They said if they will be trained in tailoring and hairdressing, it will give them opportunity to perform.”

Birukila said it was based on that UNICEF came up with the programme to work with communities to train adolescent girls.

“In the course of the training, we used the opportunity to educate the girls about their rights. We educated them on what to do if they are abused sexually or physically,” she said.

The state Director of NOA in Kaduna, Malam Hamisu Abubakar, said that in November/December 2023, 50 community leaders were selected from five area councils and trained in strengthening community structures to provide child protection services at the community level.

At the end of the training, he said, it was agreed that two pilot community-based centres be equipped with child-friendly safe space and life skills training for out of school adolescent girls.

As a follow up, Abubakar said, the NOA, funded by UNICEF Kaduna Field Office in compliance with agreed criteria selected Sabon Tasha community in Chikun Local Government Area to conduct the training of 1,080 young girls in tailoring and hairstyling.

He explained that among the many communities visited, Sabon Tasha met the requirements of having a standard community centre where it could serve as a child friendly safe space and also serve as a place to learn skills.

“We met a community that is highly organised and enjoys the leadership of its leaders who accepted the idea of providing a place to conduct the training for the young girls.

“This is a deliberate attempt to strengthen community structures for child protection services at the community level. Two months down the line, we are here today to witness the graduation
ceremony of dedicated young girls who are now equipped with skills in tailoring and hairstyling for survival.”

He thanked UNICEF for the support in ensuring the project became successful, while also appreciating the host community for embracing the intervention, particularly the governance team of eight selected community leaders.

He also commended the master trainers, stressing that they played commendable roles throughout the two months of training.

Also, Chairman of Chikun, Mr Salasi Nuhu, commended UNICEF for the gesture, saying it would go a long way in enhancing the girl’s livelihood.

Some of the beneficiaries, Exceptional Abel and Sarah Solomon, also thanked UNICEF for the gesture, while pledging to use the skills to earn a living.

NAN reports that highpoints of the event were traditional dances, fashion parade and issuance of certificates to the adolescent girls.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

SA/HA
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Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu