Cabinet has agreed to a plea by minister of health Dr Ahmadou Lamin Samateh for an increment in allowance to doctors and PhD holders who work at the ministry of health central level.
The president and his ministers on Thursday discussed and adopted a paper presented by the Hon Minister of Health for the increment of allowances to medical hierarchy, Doctors and PhD holders within the Ministry of Health, according to State House.
Cabinet was informed that over the past years, the Ministry of Health has been finding it difficult to attract highly qualified medical doctors from hospitals to work at the central mainstream ministry because of the sharp difference in salary and take home between medical doctors at the central Ministry of Health and those of their counterparts in the hospitals, State House said in a statement after the meeting.
The difference in incentive packages offered by the different arms of the same Ministry is a source of disincentive to strike the right balance in terms of moving the relevant high caliber staff around to serve where they are considered needed from time to time, State House said.
As part of efforts to bring in efficiency and synergy in the incentive packages within the Health sector, Cabinet approved the proposal to increase the allowances payable to medical doctors and PhD holders at the central level of the Ministry of Health to be comparable to their colleagues in the hospitals and other government agencies, State House’s statement added.
