Many Nigerians who reported ill at federal government-owned medical facilities nationwide on Monday were stunned to find out that doctors had embarked on an indefinite strike, leaving them stranded and at the mercy of private hospitals.
Their woes were compounded by their inability to access funds to look elsewhere for medical care as banks were closed as a result of the Eid-Maulud holiday which began last Friday.
Medical doctors under the umbrella of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARDS) had commenced an indefinite nationwide strike in the early hours of Monday following the rejection by its National Executive Council, of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) its leadership had signed with the federal government last week.
The development attracted a firm rebuke from the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who condemned the strike describing it as an act of sabotage.
His Ministry of Health counterpart, Prof. Isaac Adewole, however, sued for peace, pleading with the doctors to return to work and give the federal government time to resolve their grievances.
The resident doctors had last week met with Ngige and Adewole, where the federal government made some offers to them.
But a terse statement signed by NARD President, Dr. Onyebueze John, in Abuja said: “Rising from our National Executive Council meeting, which started by 7pm yesterday (Sunday) and ended 3am today (Monday), we have resolved to reject the promissory offer from government and proceed on total and indefinite strike action until all items in our demand list for strike action are resolved by government.”
The association had last week warned that it might embark on an indefinite strike from September 4th if its demands were not met by the federal government.
It had demanded that all heads of tertiary health institutions that have received funding from the federal government for the payment of all outstanding financial obligations to its members should pay them immediately, adding that its members were demanding the resolution of persistent shortfalls and unpaid arrears of salaries earned in both federal and state tertiary health institutions.
Other issues in dispute include the demand for the enrolment of resident doctors into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) since 2003 and non-implementation of adjusted House Officers’ Entry grade level equivalent since 2014.
The resident doctors are also asking for the resolution of the stagnation of promotion and non-promotion of members who had met requisite criteria despite all collective bargaining agreements and circulars.
In his reaction yesterday, Ngige in a statement yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Nwachukwu Obidiwe, said the strike was unnecessary, expressing surprise that NARD downed tools despite assurances to the contrary.
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