COVID-19: Health Minister says he is not aware if medical doctors in Nigeria are paid hazard allowance

Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, says he is not aware if medical doctors and other health practitioners managing COVID-19 patients in Nigeria are paid any hazard allowance.

TheCable is reporting that Ehanire, who met with the leadership of the national assembly in Abuja on Thursday, said what the doctors are doing is their routine job.

The meeting was between the lawmakers and the members of the presidential task force on COVID-19 to discuss ongoing trends regarding the pandemic in Nigeria.

Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker, had asked the minister if the medical personnel handling coronavirus cases are paid any hazard allowance, to which he responded: “I am not aware of it.”

He added: “It is the standard job they do every day; it is the standard job.”

An apparently furious Gbajabiamila told the minister it is not enough to say he is not aware, and “you dropped the ball”.

TheCable learnt that while Nigerian medical doctors earn a monthly hazard allowance of N5,000, it is yet to be increased even in the face of the pandemic.