Primary healthcare workers across the 21 local government areas of Kogi State have threatened to down tools if their demand for improved salary was not met by the State Government.
The State Secretary, Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, (MHWUN) Comrade Rose Momoh disclosed this in a statement sent to DAILY POST on Saturday.
She noted that the primary healthcare workers in the Local Government have been collecting 30 to 35 percent salaries for the past two years.
Momoh added that the workers experienced 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 healthcare workers at the Local Government level cannot take care of their transport from home to workplace, let alone putting food on the table for the family to survive.
“We can no longer bear this continuous hardship we are facing. Health workers risk their lives everyday to save others, yet, their salary is nothing to write home about. Who have we offended? Is this what is obtainable in other states?
“Our demands is that the government should complete the process of Primary Healthcare 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 healthcare workers be paid 100 percent like their State counterparts,” the statement added.
The union appealed to the State Government and health partners in the State to come to their aid, as they continue to lose their members on a daily basis due to hardship the percentage salaries had posed on them