Cross River doctors: We are just 33 in civil service yet the least paid in Nigeria

Agam Ayuk, chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Cross River, says doctors under the state civil service are the least paid in Nigeria.

According to NAN, he spoke in Calabar, Cross River capital, while addressing reporters on the COVID-19 response and the state of the health sector, on Wednesday.

Ayuk dismissed the claim that there are 105 doctors in the state’s civil service, insisting that there are 33 doctors on the payroll of the state government.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we have attached the distribution of Cross River doctors across the various state facilities reaffirming our position of 33 doctors in the Cross River civil service,” he said.

“The number of doctors in the state civil service is the least in the country. A doctor in Cross River civil service earns 46 to 54 percent of what other colleagues earns across the country. Doctors in Cross River are the least paid by any state government in the country. It is therefore difficult to engage or retain this critical workforce.

“We, therefore, call on the state government to use this period of COVID-19 pandemic to address the human resource capacity and other deficits in the health sector.”

Ezoke Epoke, NMA state secretary, affirmed the chairman’s position, saying Cross River has the least number of doctors in the south-south.

“In Delta, we have 441 doctors employed by the state government; the next is Rivers state with 430 doctors; Akwa Ibom has 361 doctors, while Edo has 230, Bayelsa with 220 doctors and Cross River has the least with 33 doctors.

“We have met with the speaker of the state house of assembly, commissioner for health. We have met with the deputy governor. We have done extensive engagement for over a year on this very issue but to no avail.”