From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
The State Secretary, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, (MHWUN) Comrade Rose Momoh on Saturday said that the Primary Health Care Workers across the 21 local government areas of Kogi State may down tools if their demands for improved salary is not met by the State Government.
The State Secretary, who disclosed this in a statement issued to journalists on Saturday noted that the primary health workers in the Local Government have been collecting 30 to 35 percent salaries for the past two years.
Momoh added that the health workers had the worst recently when they were paid 25 percent of their January salary in 2022.
”The salary the Kogi State Government is paying to our health workers at the Local Government level cannot take care of their transport from home to workplace, talk more of bringing food on the table for the family to survive.” the statement added.
“We can no longer bear this continuous hardship we are facing. Health workers risk their lives every day to safe others, yet, their salary is nothing to write home about. Who have we offended? Is this what is obtainable in other states?”
The statement stressed “Our demands is that, the government should complete the process of Primary Health Care under one roof and move the PHC workers and their salaries to State Primary Health Care Development Agency ( SPHCDA) immediately.”
“We are also demanding that primary health care workers be paid 100 percent like their State counterparts” the statement added.
The union body therefore appealed to the State Government and health partners in the state to come to their aid as they continue to lose their members on daily basis due to hardship the percentage salaries has posed on them.
