Some senior health professionals have backed the Federal Government’s position that medical and dental house officers cannot be placed on the civil service scheme.
The medical experts said the government’s position aligns with proper training standards and would help strengthen professional development among young practitioners.
However, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors insisted that the positions undermine welfare guarantees and working conditions for early-career doctors.
PUNCH Healthwise reports that the apex government said the house officers cannot be placed on the civil service scheme because they are not the government’s regular staff.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, explained that such inclusion would be impractical and would create administrative and financial complications.
The minister said, “Medical and dental house officers are newly graduated doctors, either medical or dental, who are on internship for one year—which is 12 months—so they are not regular staff. So, we’ve explained to the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors that putting house officers on the civil service scheme will create more problems than it will solve.
“That would mean putting them on the same platform that pays other civil servants, and when they leave, some of them might still get paid. To exit that platform takes some processes. We have also explained that it is not only doctors who do an internship. Internship is done by other categories of health workers—nurses, pharmacists, and physiotherapists.”
NARD, however, faulted the exclusion of house officers from the civil service scheme, saying the exclusion had denied them rightful emoluments, professional recognition, and timely payment of salaries.
But some leaders in the health sector who spoke with PUNCH Healthwise argued that the FG was on the right track, clarifying that the apex government’s position was to maintain proper precedence.
A former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Olumide Akintayo, said the government’s exclusion of house officers from the civil service scheme was based on rational logic. He said, “This is about rational logic, safety, and proper precedence. The government cannot continue to allow itself to be pushed or intimidated into decisions that are not structurally or professionally correct. I say this with a sense of responsibility.
“There are established professional protocols. A house officer cannot be classified as a civil servant because he is still in a one-year training period. This is not a matter of emotion or sentiment; it is a structured process that applies across the health sector — not just to doctors.
“The same principle affects medical laboratory scientists and other healthcare professionals. It affects the entire value chain of the health workforce. So, there should be no sentiment. The government should not be pressured to conscript individuals who are still in training into full civil service “by fire by force”. It is a straightforward process.”
He noted that only proper government employees are entitled to proper benefits like a pension, among others, adding that house officers are only entitled to benefits that apply during their training periods.
Civil service benefits apply when you are fully registered and have completed your required training — usually after five to ten years of progression. So, there is no lost benefit here beyond their proper allowances as house officers.
No benefits are being taken away. The system ensures that one must go through training like every other professional,” the former PSN president said.
Also, a former President of the Nigerian Society of Physiotherapy, Dr Felix Faniran, said the government’s position was justified by the temporary nature of the housemanship.
“Housemanship is for one year, and it is still a training period even though the doctors are working during that time.
“So, when the government says house officers cannot be placed on the civil service scheme because they are not regular staff, they are referring to the temporary nature of the appointment,” he said.
Faniran, who served as the Director of Physiotherapy Services at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital in Ile-Ife, Osun State, before his retirement, explained that the issue revolves around doing what is right.
“From my experience, we have always looked at these things based on rights and fairness. House officers are entitled to salaries and certain allowances, and unions have always fought to ensure they get what they are qualified for.
“However, if there are allowances or benefits that are outside the provisions that cover temporary staff, then a negotiation case may arise.
My position is simple: we look at the specific issues. If what they are asking for falls within what they should legitimately receive, then it is right. And if that inclusion is not currently recognised under existing rules, but is reasonable and justified, then negotiation is how improvements happen. So, it is not a closed matter. It is something that can be considered and granted in the future,” he added.
In his response, NARD President, Dr Mohammad Suleiman, told our correspondent that excluding house officers from the civil service scheme means they won’t benefit from any wage awards or review.
“The position is that whenever the Federal Government makes adjustments to wage awards, minimum wage, or even during the review of hazard allowance, these adjustments do not automatically translate to house officers. House officers are placed on the CONMESS salary scale, specifically CONMESS 1, and by excluding them from the civil service scheme, it means that any salary or allowance adjustment affecting salary grade levels does not reflect in their pay. So the question now is: who guarantees that when these adjustments are made, house officers actually receive them?
“Even the government itself has acknowledged that there is an implementation problem when it comes to applying wage reviews to house officers. So the focus should be on fixing the problem — not denying that it exists.
“If they say house officers should not be placed under civil service because the training period is one year, fine — but then, they must provide a clear system that ensures every adjustment on salary or allowance is immediately reflected, without agitation and without repeated struggles every time,” Suleiman said.
PUNCH NEWS.
