The Federal Government has revealed that some medical doctors who have departed the country in search of greener pastures still have their names on the payrolls of its hospitals.
The Director General of the Budget Office, Mr Ben Akabueze, made the revelation on Thursday, while speaking in a meeting between the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee and the leadership of the Striking medical doctors to address the strike action by Resident Doctors in the country.
Akabueze said; ”when you look at the nominal role, many of the people who are said to have exited, to have “japaed” are still on the nominal roll of the hospitals because some of them are taking study leave, some of them are taking leave of absence and they remain on the nominal roll.
“So when they do the evaluation of authorized establishment vis-à-vis bodies in post, those bodies are no longer in post but they are reflecting as they are in post.
“Meanwhile the hospitals knows these people have japa, they are not available, they are still kept.
“That is something that perhaps at the level of Ministry of Health that makes policy to determine how we deal with these things.
READ MORE: Resident Doctors Embark On Indefinite Strike
“Health workers can’t simply go off on leave of absence and have his job or her job guaranteed there waiting, meanwhile there is nobody to serve the people because there is no vacancy there, they cannot replace.
“If we do not deal with this, even when you come to implementing this one-on-one replacement, would such people be deemed as replaceable for People who have left?
“If they are replaced and tomorrow the person returns, what then happens?”
However, Akabueze, urged the doctors to stop holding Nigerians to ransom with strikes, adding that the industrial action is affecting Nigerians negatively.
The Deputy Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon Tanko Sununu, who presided over the meeting, said that it was important to find a solution to the incessant strikes as Nigerians were always at the receiving end.
He urged the Resident Doctors to be reasonable and give the government more time to address their grievances.
The Chairman Salaries and Wages Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, said that some of the financial agreements were not met due to the current exchange rate in the country.
