BY GRACE PETERS / ABAKALIKI
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Chairmanship aspirant for the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ebonyi State Branch, Dr. Erogu Dandy Igwe, has promised to end salary deductions, levies and neglect of doctors’ welfare if elected to lead the association.
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Addressing journalists in Abakaliki on Friday, the Senior Registrar in the Department of Psychiatry, Federal Teaching Hospital, said years of apathy in the association were caused by a few individuals who recycled awards and ignored members’ wellbeing.
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“For a long time now, there has been apathy created by a few individuals in the association. They created apathy so that they will be recycling or apportioning the awards to each other and to their friends. All they know are meetings and deduction of salaries of our members without securing any welfare package for us,” he said.
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Dr. Igwe pledged that his two-year tenure would be free of salary deductions, increased dues and levies.
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“I won’t engage in any form of salary deduction from our members. We won’t increase our dues and there won’t be levies throughout the two years I am going to be Chairman,” he said.
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He explained that monthly dues paid by all doctors in the state were sufficient to fund projects.
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“That dues is enough to do any project we are supposed to do in the state. If it is not enough, we will lobby the state and federal government to assist us. We can’t levy doctors, young doctors who are struggling to feed their families and take their children to school,” he added.
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He also promised to lobby the Borno State Government to complete the association’s ongoing secretariat building, including landscaping and fencing.
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The aspirant said he would champion “One Doctor, One Vote” — ODOV — for NMA elections, and work with the national leadership to conclude the Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA, before the 2027 general election.
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“The CBA is about increasing doctors’ salaries, doctors’ remuneration. Once it is done and implemented effectively, I don’t think any doctor will have any need to leave the country,” he said.
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Dr. Igwe said he would partner with the Association of Resident Doctors, ARD, in all state hospitals to ensure efficient healthcare delivery with constant water and electricity.
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“Sometime I see people carrying water, going outside to fetch water in hospitals. That should not be happening,” he noted.
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To address power outages, he proposed installing solar systems in critical areas such as theatres, emergency units and newborn wards.
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“In the theatre, in the newborn, in the surgical units, there should be solar there so that we won’t lose anyone as a result of our failure,” he said.
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On professionalism, he promised to strengthen the ethics committee.
“There must be rule of law in NMA. We won’t joke with the ethics. Anybody found culpable, that person’s license will be withdrawn. I can assure you that,” he stated.
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He also pledged to establish an EDAS Forum and a rapid response team to handle doctors’ entitlements and emergencies, while working with both public and private practitioners to improve healthcare in Ebonyi State.
