The committee was set up after a meeting between the leadership of the House and stakeholders in the health sector, which was aimed at preventing the strike proposed by resident doctors in protests against non-implementation of the agreement reached with them by the government.

Chairman of the House Committee on Health Services, Mr Yusuf Sununu, said the meeting was a continuation of the previous meetings with the  NARD’s leadership called by the Speaker.

Sununu said, “There were three issues in contention at that meeting: one is the issue of shortfall of salary that amounted to N3.5bn, which is to be paid to doctors practicing in the country. I think that has been successfully resolved, as both the Budget Office (of the Federation) and the Ministry of Finance clearly told us that a provision was made to ensure that within this month, at least, that will be paid.

“Secondly, we also have the issue of skipping arrears totaling about N23bn, which was strongly debated. Mr. Speaker was of the view, as of the conclusion of that meeting, that the claim was a genuine one; because all evidence before the meeting as of that date showed that the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Health, has gone into an agreement to pay these skipping arrears.

“These are all the available documents that were tendered before the committee. That the issue of skipping was in court and could not be substantiated by the documents tendered before that meeting.”

The lawmaker noted that the third issue was on how to fund the medical residency of doctors, the bill which President Muhammadu Buhari had signed into law last year.

Also, Chairman of the Committee on Health Institutions, Pascal Obi, expressed confidence in the committee that had been set up, saying he was sure the panel would resolve all the issues between the doctors and the Federal Government.

Source: Punch