Abia State Governor Alex Otti has directed the immediate harmonisation of the 2023 and 2025 Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for implementation at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba.
Otti gave the directive on Thursday while receiving a progress report from the Board and Management of ABSUTH, led by Board Chairman Dr Ezinne Kalu, during a working visit to the Governor’s Office.
The governor stressed that the welfare and working conditions of healthcare professionals must receive adequate attention. He noted that his administration’s investments in the health sector are aimed at improving healthcare delivery across the state.
“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 said.
He reaffirmed his commitment to repositioning ABSUTH as a world-class tertiary healthcare institution. The first phase of the upgrade, he said, focused on restoring accreditations that had been lost for more than two years before his administration assumed office.
Otti also disclosed that some ABSUTH facilities previously concessioned to private entities by the previous administration have been recovered following engagements and settlements. “The facilities have now been returned to the management of the Teaching Hospital,” he stated.
Responding to requests in the Board’s report on manpower, staff welfare and power supply, the governor expressed surprise that the 2023 Federal Government CONMESS, which he had earlier approved, was not fully implemented before the 2025 review.
He noted that full implementation of the 2023 structure would have placed Abia health workers on a better salary scale than their counterparts in the Federal Government service prior to the 2025 review.
“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,” Otti said. “Going back to what you have is strange; let us make this job easier for ourselves.”
He directed the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Ifeyinwa Uma-Kalu, and the Chief Medical Director of ABSUTH, Prof Nneka Okoronkwo, to jointly harmonise the 2023 and 2025 CONMESS structures and submit recommendations for appropriate action.
Earlier, 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 from its fact-finding exercise.
Chief Medical Director Prof Nneka Okoronkwo also expressed appreciation for the governor’s interventions. She listed other approvals granted by Otti, including payment of salaries owed to interns, settlement of two-year salary arrears for three ABSUTH workers, payment of the MDCAN shortfall following the centralisation of salary payments, and approval for staff due for promotion.
