The 10,000 member strong National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has issued a statement declaring a “total and indefinite strike action”.
The statement was issued Tuesday evening.
The strike action follows the lapsing of an ultimatum issued by NARD to government, which lapsed midnight, Wednesday, July 19.
NARD had said in the course of that ultimatum, that if government failed to comply with its demands, it “cannot guarantee industrial harmony in the Health Sector nationwide.”
The association had urged government to quickly pay outstanding arrears owed its members in the interest of industrial harmony. It listed the arrears as including hazard allowance and the skipping arrears from 2014 to 2016, as well as arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum wage.
A communiqué issued by NARD read in part: “We demand the immediate release and the implementation of the guidelines on one-for-one replacement of clinical staff to cushion the effect of the massive manpower shortage in our various hospitals nationwide.”
It further stated: “NEC calls on the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to discontinue the downgrading of the membership certificate issued by the West African Postgraduate Medical and Surgical colleges as this is not obtainable in other parts of West Africa where these same certificates are issued.
“NEC demands the immediate payment of all Salary Arrears, implementation of the CONMESS salary structure and new Hazard Allowance and domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act and payment of the Medical Residency Training Fund to our members in the State Tertiary Health Institutions nationwide.
“The NEC of NARD insist on the immediate implementation of a minimum of 200% increment in the CONMESS (Consolidated Medical Salary Structure) and upward review of the associated allowances as requested in her previous letters on the subject matter since the current economic realities in the country cannot justify the continued payment of CONMESS as it is at the moment, or any increment below the 200% as demanded.”
Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the House of Representatives is reported to have held a closed door meeting with the leadership of NARD on Monday in Abuja, in an attempt to avert the strike.
At the meeting, Abbas announced the setting up of an adhoc committee to address the doctors’ demands and scheduled a meeting with President Bola Tinubu to avert the industrial action.
He further appealed to NARD to give the House leadership a two-week window, within which to find solutions to the issues raised. These moved however did not avert the strike.
Nigeria has about 10,000 resident doctors according to NARD estimates for November 2022. In total, there are 24,000 doctors including consultants, resident doctors, medical officers engaged in the country’s health sector.
The National Association of Resident Doctors is an affiliate of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA). It has 76 branches domiciled mainly in Federal and State-owned Teaching Hospitals.
Nigeria currently has 22 Teaching Hospitals, 20 Federal Medical Centres and 17 specialist hospitals.
Given the fact that there are only 24,000 doctors working in Nigeria, the current doctor-patient ratio is 1:9,083, a stark contrast with WHO’s recommendation of one doctor to 600 patients. With 218 million people to cater for, Nigeria requires at least 363,000 additional doctors to meet this target.
Much of the deficit is caused by a brain drain of Nigerian doctors pursuing better prospects abroad.
