Wike Assures of Improved Healthcare Delivery
…Says Staff Salary Gulps N8b Monthly
By: Wisdom Acka
FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, said plans were underway to improve the quality of health care delivery in the Federal Capital Territory.
Wike gave the assurance when executive members of the Association of Resident Doctors, FCT Chapter, paid him a courtesy visit.
He stated that the FCT Administration would make provisions in the 2024 budget to improve quality of healthcare in the nation’s capital.
This is as the Minister bemoaned healthcare delievr in the FCT.
His words: “The services at the moment are not encouraging. It is unfortunate. I was thinking that since FCT is a capital city, it will have the best health facilities, but from what I am told, there is nothing to write home about, but be assured it will be the best.”
“We will bring the health system to a standard that everybody will be happy”; revealing that efforts were on to complete the Utako Hospital.
Responding to the doctors’ request for increment in their salaries and allowances, Wike disclosed that current wage bill of the FCTA, without the increase was already N8 billion monthly; adding that there was no financial resources to support salary or allowances increment.
He advised the doctors against embarking on industrial action becuase of salary and allowances increment, but rather focus on improving facilities for quality services; promising that efforts would be made to settle their outstanding allowances and ensure training of medical officers.
Earlier, Dr. Olayinka Olayinka thanked the Minister for attending to some of their challenges within a short time in office.
Olayinka pointed out that there was challenge of health services in the FCT due to shortage of manpower and called on the Minister to look into the recruitment of more hands.
He appealed for the supply of more drugs for the FCT hospitals, becuase patients from neighbouring states also come to the health facilties for service.
He said: “We need doctors, pharmacists, nurses, lab technicians among other critical manpower as FCT is at the receiving end of the ‘Japa’ syndrome.”
“We are being owed arrears of hazard allowance which the previous administration promised to pay in tranches,” he added.
