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Anthony Ufoh
The Akwa Ibom State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has threatened the management of Ibom Multi-Specialist Hospital and St. Luke’s hospital in the state to withdraw the services of its members if the medical personnel’s welfare and salary are not scaled up to what is expected.
The members of the NMA who work in the two hospitals, according to the association’s Chairman, Dr. Aniekan Peter, are paid a pittance for services rendered by the doctors.
The union urged the state government to set up committees that would ensure that all the doctors in those hospitals were paid a good salary and provided with a condition of service that is commensurate with what is paid in the state.
The NMA decided to toe this line of action after resolutions were taken at the conclusion of the state chapter’s 2025 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference held in Uyo.
Speaking to journalists, Peter lamented that doctors in St Luke’s hospital, Anua, are paid “slave” salaries and urged the management of the hospital to return it to the state government if they cannot pay a befitting salary to their doctors and other health workers.
He said, “AGM saw to securing the future of doctors through better remuneration. Look at the situation of doctors in Ibom Specialist hospital, we see where people work for several years, no increase in salary, no promotion, it’s unacceptable, we will soon issue an ultimatum to that hospital and withdraw the services of members.
“We want to appeal to the governor to set up a committee and ensure that all the doctors in that hospital are paid a good salary and provided with a condition of service that is commensurate with what is paid in the state civil service.
“Also, doctors in St Luke’s hospital, Anua, are given slave salaries; we don’t want that to continue.
“If Anua feels that it cannot pay their doctors, they should return the hospital to the state government as it was before.
“A situation where doctors are being paid N150,000 is ridiculous. The Nigerian Medical Association will not accept that, and we are going to take action against St. Luke’s Hospital.
“We want the state government to set up a committee also to ensure that that hospital is taken over by the state government if it cannot pay a living wage to doctors and other healthcare workers.”
The Chairman also urged the governor to prioritise the welfare of doctors and other health workers, as he is already doing in health infrastructure, stressing, “you can’t build infrastructure without the labour, you have to match the two, side by side.”
Peter also disclosed that the AGM begged the governor to turn the Ibom multi-specialist hospital into Ibom Medical University and to ensure that training of manpower begins in earnest.
He said the facility is big enough to train doctors, medical lab scientists, physiotherapists, dentists, among others.
While commending the governor for appointing three of their members as commissioners and Special Advisers, Peter revealed that the union had commenced statewide sensitisation programmes to churches in the 31 Local Government Areas of the state on maternal and child mortality rates in the state.