Osagie Ehanire,
minister of health, says he is not aware if medical doctors and other health
practitioners managing COVID-19 patients in Nigeria are paid any hazard
allowance.
Ehanire, who met
with the leadership of the national assembly in Abuja on Thursday, said what
the doctors are doing is their routine job.
The meeting was
between the lawmakers and the members of the presidential task force on
COVID-19 to discuss ongoing trends on the pandemic in the country.
Femi Gbajabiamila,
the speaker, had asked the minister if the medical personnel handling
coronavirus cases are paid any hazard allowance, to which he responded: “I am
not aware of it.”
He added: “It is the
standard job they do every day; it is the standard job.”
An apparently
furious Gbajabiamila told the minister it is not enough to say he is not aware,
and “you dropped the ball”.
While Nigerian medical doctors earn a monthly hazard allowance of N5,000, it is
yet to be increased even in the face of the pandemic.
Below is the
dialogue that ensued between the minister and the speaker at the meeting:
Gbajabiamila: Are
they being paid a hazard allowance for the job that they are doing?
Ehanire: I am not
aware of it. It is the standard job they do everyday; it is the standard job.
Gbajabiamila: I
thought you said coronavirus is novel, how is it a standard job?
Ehanire: Because
screening is what you do every day.
Gbajabiamila: They
don’t screen for coronavirus every day; they’ve never done it. This is the most
infectious disease in the world.
Ehanire: Screening
for temperature.
Gbajabiamila: The
answer to my question is that they are not being paid hazard allowance.
Ehanire: No, the
answer is that I am not aware.
Gbajabiamila: But
you should be aware. It is not enough to say you don’t know. Honestly, you
dropped the ball.
Watch video:
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