The Chairman, Zamfara State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) Dr. Sanusi Bello has backed Governor Matawalle revelation that only 84 out of 280 doctors working in the state are genuine while the other 196 are ghost doctors.
Dr Bello who confirmed this in a phone conversation with DAILY POST, said what Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle said about the number of ghost doctors was actually true.
He said that the 196 ghost doctors were detected during a verification exercise conducted two months ago to ascertain the actual figure of doctors in the state before implementing the new minimum wage.
“To be frank, we have only 84 genuine doctors working in Zamfara State hospitals but unfortunately, there are 280 doctors on the payroll”
“This has indicated that the other 196 are actually ghost doctors and that is why the state government found it difficult to implement the minimum wage”
He placed the blame on the state Health Services Management Board for inserting the names of the ghost doctors in the payroll, advising the state government to look into the possibility of reshuffling the board.
Recall that Governor Matawalle in his country home, Maradun said he had paid the salaries of the genuine doctors contrary to speculation that his administration was withholding the salaries of health workers.
The Governor said the initial delay in the payment of the doctors’ salary was because of the verification exercise conducted by his administration in conjunction with the state union labour leaders.
“I summoned a meeting with the Head of Service and the labour union leaders where we discussed the issue of payment of salary to civil servants”
“A verification exercise was conducted where we discovered that 280 doctors have been collecting salaries from the state government while in reality, we have only 81 doctors”
The Governor stated that the payment of November and December salaries was deliberately delayed 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”
