Otti orders CONMESS salary harmonisation for ABSUTH medical staff

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti.

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has directed the harmonisation of the 2023 and 2025 Consolidated Medical Salary Structure for immediate implementation at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba.

Otti gave the directive on Thursday when he received a progress report from the Board and Management of ABSUTH, led by the Board Chairman, Dr Ezinne Kalu, during a working visit to the Governor’s Office.

The governor said the welfare and working conditions of healthcare professionals must receive adequate attention, noting that his administration’s investment in the health sector was aimed at improving healthcare delivery in the state.

He said, “The huge investment my administration is making in the health sector, including the consistent allocation of 15 per cent of the state’s annual budget to healthcare, is driven by my desire to provide affordable and quality healthcare to Abians, not to make profit.”

Otti reiterated his administration’s commitment to repositioning ABSUTH as a world-class tertiary healthcare institution, noting that the first phase of the upgrade focused on restoring accreditations that had been lost for more than two years before his administration came into office.

He also disclosed that some ABSUTH facilities previously concessioned to private entities by the previous administration had been recovered following engagements and settlements with those involved.

According to him, “The facilities have now been returned to the management of the Teaching Hospital.”

Responding to requests contained in the Board’s report, particularly those concerning manpower, staff welfare and power supply, Otti expressed surprise that the 2023 Federal Government CONMESS he had earlier approved was not fully implemented before the 2025 review.

He said the implementation of the 2023 structure would have placed Abia health workers on a better salary scale than their counterparts in the Federal Government service before the structure was reviewed in 2025.

Otti said, “When the request came, my understanding is that it was going to be better than the Federal. Before I approved it, I asked a question about total cost of employment so that I could cross-check with my budget. So, when I looked at it, I found that we could accommodate it, and I approved it.”

He added, “Going back to what you have is strange; let us make this job easier for ourselves.”

The governor therefore directed the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Ifeyinwa Uma-Kalu, and the Chief Medical Director of ABSUTH, Prof Nneka Okoronkwo, to work together to harmonise the 2023 and 2025 CONMESS structures and submit their recommendations for appropriate action.

Earlier, the Board Chairman, Dr Ezinne Kalu, presented a report titled “Stabilising Today: Building the Teaching Hospital Abia Deserves.” She thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve and outlined the board’s findings and recommendations following its fact-finding exercise.

Also speaking, the Chief Medical Director of ABSUTH, Prof Nneka Okoronkwo, thanked Otti for his intervention in resolving challenges at the institution.

She listed other approvals granted by the governor to include the payment of salaries owed to interns, settlement of salary arrears for three ABSUTH workers who had been owed for two years, payment of the MDCAN shortfall following the centralisation of salary payments and approval for staff due for promotion.