Senator calls for improved pay and support for healthcare workers

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has called for improved remuneration, working conditions and welfare packages for doctors, nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals. The senator representing Kogi Central made the appeal on Monday at the “Unfinished” event organised by Ward-C in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission. The discussions focused on maternal health, women’s rights and reproductive choices.

Akpoti-Uduaghan said efforts to reduce maternal mortality should address the conditions faced by women, children and healthcare workers at the point of care. She said medical professionals in underserved communities needed an enabling environment to perform effectively. She identified adequate pay, functional equipment, essential medicines, reliable electricity, suitable workplaces and professional development as necessary elements of a functioning healthcare system.

Infrastructure, she said, could not operate without the personnel needed to maintain it. The senator said rural facilities often lacked the staff and equipment required to manage complicated pregnancies and neonatal emergencies. She questioned whether unreliable electricity could sustain equipment such as incubators in rural areas.

Akpoti-Uduaghan also called for stronger referral links between primary healthcare centres and general or specialist hospitals. She said effective care required laboratories, blood supplies, neonatal facilities, emergency transport, electricity and water, alongside qualified workers. She questioned whether official maternal mortality figures fully reflected deaths in rural communities and said practical interventions were needed alongside policy discussions.

She disclosed that her concerns had influenced her decision to build a maternity centre and urged continued dialogue on maternal healthcare, women’s rights and reproductive health.