Funding: Health workers fear licence fee hike

Forum 9 months ago

Funding: Health workers fear licence fee hike

Healthcare professionals in the country may be up against hikes in practising licence fees, fees for the letter of good standing, verification fee, registration fee, and licence renewal, among others, over the discontinuation of budgetary allocations to professional bodies and councils in the country.

The Federal Government, in a letter dated June 26, 2023 and addressed to professional bodies and councils, said it would discontinue budgetary allocations to professional bodies and councils with effect from January 2024.

The letter, marked DG/BDT/GEN. CORR/2016/XII/3067, was issued from the Budget Office of the Federation and signed by its Director General, Ben Akabueze.

Akabueze said the decision was approved by the 13th meeting of the Presidential Committee on Salaries.

“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to inform you that, in compliance with PCS’s directive, this office (Budget Office of the Federation) will no longer make budgetary provisions for your institution, which means that you will be regarded henceforth as a self-funded organisation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, you will be required, effective January 1, 2024, to be fully responsible for your personnel, overhead, and capital expenditures,” the letter partly read.

The councils that will be affected by the new development are the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria, among others.

Speaking with The PUNCH on the implications of the new policy, the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, Dr Emeka Orji, said doctors were already envisaging an increase in the practising licence fee and other fees paid to the MDCN.

The practising licence fee is charged based on doctors’ years of practice. For instance, the MDCN Act states that, “A doctor who is aged 70 years and above shall pay a practising fee amounting to 25 per cent of the fee payable by a doctor of more than 10 years post-qualification experience.”

Orji said, “The truth is that the funds that the MDCN and other regulatory agencies get from the government help them to take care of salaries and other running costs and if the government is totally withdrawing from funding them, they will channel their sources of funding to the people they are meant to be regulating, which will be the professionals, which may not be good.

“We are anticipating that it may lead to an increase in licensing fees and other things, which is not good, considering the prevailing economic conditions.”

Corroborating Orji, the President of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria, Dr Victor Makanjuola, said the withdrawal of the government’s funding of the MDCN “may lead to an increase in fees.”

Meanwhile, the Registrar of the MDCN, Dr Tajudeen Sanusi, said, “We are still waiting for further policy guide and directives.”

Also, the Secretary of the Lagos State Council of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Toba Odumosu, said healthcare professionals would bear the burden if the government withdraws the budgetary allocation to professional bodies and councils.

“Obviously, professionals will have to pay for it. We pay for registration fees, verification fees, examination fees, and others but with this new policy, it means nurses will have to start paying more to fund the council. The burden will be more on the nurses now,” Odumosu said.