By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Federal Government has reassured medical doctors on its payroll that it is fully committed to ensuring that all workers were captured in the Integrated Personnel and Payment Information System (IPPIS).
Speaking in Abuja, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, while receiving the members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and representatives of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) who were at the Treasury House in Abuja to interact with him, explained that although it is government’s plan to ensure that all agencies of government and categories of staff are enrolled in the scheme, but the process is being done in phases to ensure that transparency, accuracy and due process are followed.
The AGF assured them of the support of his office and directed the director of IPPIS, Mr Murtala Musa Oluwatoyin, to come up with a road map that will articulate how all Doctors; General Consultants, Resident Doctors and House officers; in the all government hospitals would be integrated into the IPPIS platform.
Speaking earlier, leader of the delegation and President of NARD, Mr Onyebueze John, commended government on the implementation of the IPPIS, saying that the scheme has proved to be an effective tool for checking leakages and reducing waste.
He urged the government to fast track the process of enrolling all medical doctors in the government employment, saying that the process will help to streamline the imbalances in the payment of medical doctors, block leakages and save cost for the government to do other things.
Mr Onyebueze told the AGF that the association has already sensitized its members of the need for the enrolment, saying that they are fully ready to support government on the implementation.
In his own remarks, the chairman of the Remuneration Committee, Dr Nosa Lancy Orhue, said that the Nigeria Medical Association was fully in support of the policy and will do all it can to ensure that doctors are enrolled in the IPPIS platform.