The National Association of Resident
Doctors has directed its members in public hospitals in the country to
begin a five-day strike from 8am on Wednesday (today).
The association said public hospitals
nationwide would remain shut till Monday next week as the association
embarked on the strike to force government to accede to its demands.
The implication of the present strike is
that all patients in government hospitals across the nation would not
be attended to by consultant (senior) doctors, who are often fewer in
number than the resident doctors.
The President of NARD, Dr. Muhammad
Askira, stated this on Tuesday, while reading to journalists the
communique issued at the end of the association’s extra-ordinary
National Executive Council meeting in Abuja.
The communique was co-signed by the
Secretary-General of NARD, Dr. Ibrahim Kuburi, and Publicity/Social
Secretary, Dr. Eugene Ahuruezenma.
According to Askira, government had
failed to meet the demands of the doctors despite recent assurances from
President Muhammadu Buhari, when he met with the leadership of the
Nigerian Medical Association, where he assured the doctors of prompt
attention to their grievances.
He clarified that the indefinite strike,
earlier planned for Monday had been shelved, adding that NARD would
further take a decision on the next line of action at the end of May.
Askira said after critical analysis of
issues affecting NARD, the NEC observed that there were ongoing plans to
resolve the impasse between the government and the doctors.
He added that the efforts so far made by government had yet to meet the doctors’ demands.
The issues, according to him, included
unpaid salaries of some resident doctors, skipping and accrued arrears
for doctors yet to be implemented in most hospitals, unpaid December
salaries in some federal hospitals; and house officers’ entry steps not
implemented.
The association argued that a committee
promised by government on residency training had yet to take off, while
some of their members sacked by government had not been recalled.
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