Oyo and thirty-two other states across the country have yet to pay the new hazard allowance for resident doctors despite working at the risk of contracting COVID.19.
OYOINSIGHT.COM recalls that the Minister of State for Health , Dr Olorunnibe Mamora, had, on April 27 at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID- 19, said the Federal Government had approved a special incentive which included hazard allowance, insurance and tax rebates for health workers.
However, on Wednesday, PUNCH reported that the Secretary of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria , Dr Bilqis Mohammed announced that only Lagos , Ogun, Nasarawa and Enugu has commenced the payment of hazard allowance to resident doctors.
Resident doctors had in June embarked on a strike to protest the non – implementation of the hazard allowance despite the agreement they signed with the Federal Government.
Speaking with PUNCH, The NARD National President, Dr Aliyu Sokomba, said it was unfortunate that the Federal Government tricked resident doctors to call off their recent strike with the hope that the hazard allowance would be paid.
He said, “ The Federal Government paid two months allowance during the strike . Some of our members got it. Some did not get it . Immediately we called off the strike, they stopped the payment of the allowance.
“We are even more concerned about the Federal Government because we know if they start paying , the states would obey too. ”
Meanwhile, the NARD secretary also announced that 319 resident doctors had contracted COVID- 19 and 14 of them had died of the novel virus across the country.