Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (MAN) in Cross River State, Dr Felix Archibong has called for the upward review of doctors’ salaries in the state.
In an interview in his office, Dr Archibong said the huge disparity in salaries of doctors working in federal tertiary medical institutions as well as the lack of incentives have enticed doctors in the state employ to leave in droves.
Archibong said, “We are telling the government to make the salaries of state and federal doctors equal. That way, it will go a long way to stem the ugly tide.”
“The doctors need to be trained and retrained. They should be given commensurate salaries with their counterparts in federal service quickly so that the few remaining doctors left in the employ of the state will not be overworked.
Archibong also spoke on patients’ fatality as well as limited health facilities in the state.
He called for the establishment of a state teaching hospital in parts of the state, saying people take the risk of travelling upwards of eight hours to access tertiary medical institutions in Calabar.
“Cross River is very large. This distance is affecting patients, who sometimes die on their way to the tertiary hospitals in Calabar.
“When patients travel that far on a bad road as we have here, some even die en route to tertiary facilities, especially on referrals.
“So state teaching hospitals should be established in Ogoja and Ikom, to cater for patients from those distance districts.”