From Maiharaji Altine
The chairman, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) Dr. Sanusi Bello has confirmed Governor Bello Matawalle’s pronouncement that only 84 out of 280 doctors working in the state are genuine while the remaining 196 are ghost ones.
The NMA chairman who was speaking to Analyzer on phone confirmed that, what Governor Bello Mattawale said about the number of fake doctors was actually correct.
Bello maintained that the 196 ghost doctors were detected during a verification exercise conducted two months ago with a view to ascertaining the actual figure of the doctors before implementing the new minimum wage.
He said, “Sincerely speaking we have only 84 genuine doctors working in Zamfara state but unfortunately, there are 280 doctors in the payroll”.
“This shows that, the remaining 196 are actually ghost doctors and that was why, the state government finds it almost impossible to implement the minimum wage.
Bello blamed the state Health Services Management Board for inserting the names of the ghost doctors in government payroll, calling on the state government to look into the possibility of reshuffling the board.
Speaking earlier in his country home, Maradun, Governor Bello Mattawale said he has paid the salaries of the genuine doctors contrary to speculation that, his government was withholding the salary of the health workers.
Matawalle said that the delay in payment of the doctors salary was as a result of the verification exercise conducted by his administration in conjunction with the state union labour leaders.
Matawalle said, “I summoned a meeting with the Head of service and the labour union leaders where we discussed on the issue of payment of salary to civil servants.
“A verification exercise was conducted where we discovered that 280 doctors have been collecting salary from the state government while in reality, we have only 81 doctors”.
The Governor maintained that, the payment of November and December salary was deliberately delayed in order to ascertain the actual number of civil servants in the state.
“We deliberately delayed the payment to make sure that things must go right because we cannot continue like that as government”.
