Resident doctors suspend nationwide strike, to resume work tomorrow morning

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its nationwide strike which it embarked on over 2 weeks ago and will resume work on Saturday.

According to media reports, this was confirmed by the National President of the association, Dr Emeka Orji, on Friday evening where he stated that the striking resident doctors will resume work by 8 am tomorrow.

Review expected in 2 weeks

Orji in a terse message said,

• “Good evening. We just suspended the strike. Work to resume at 8 am tomorrow. We will review the progress made in two weeks.”

The resident doctors had complained that the working conditions in the Nigerian health sector had deteriorated to such a degree that their members were migrating to foreign countries.

What you should know

• The NARD had on July 26, 2023, commenced an indefinite strike in response to the government’s failure to meet their demands.
• Among their major demands are the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), the release of the circular on one-for-one replacement, payment of skipping arrears, and an upward review of CONMESS to restore salaries to their 2014 value.
• Also, the association is demanding the payment of arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum wages to the omitted doctors, the reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), payment of MRTF, new hazard allowance, skipping, and the implementation of corrected CONMESS in State Tertiary Health Institutions. They also seek the payment of omitted hazard allowance arrears.
• The NARD President said, “Our members are suffering. Nigerians are suffering too. When you don’t have the right number of doctors in the hospital, there is no way it is not going to affect the healthcare service delivery system. And nobody has come out to tell us that what we are saying is not true,”
• The union had earlier shelved its plans for a nationwide protest that will see it picket the Federal Ministry of Health, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, as well as all federal and state tertiary health institutions nationwide.
• The executives of the union had also met with senators led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.