The 10,000 member Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its nationwide protest earlier scheduled to commence today, Wednesday August 9.
Representatives of the Federal Government reportedly held a meeting with the doctors on Tuesday, concerning their ongoing strike and the planned peaceful protest scheduled to start today.
Dr. Emeka Orji, NARD president, said after the meeting, that the protest had been suspended.
Orji however said the situation would come up for review in three days’ time, after an assessment of government’s follow up actions.
Orji further said NARD also met with Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, as well as other principal officers of the Senate, with a view to getting their grievances addressed.
“We had a very fruitful meeting with the Senate led by the president of the Senate and from our discussions with them, we are very hopeful that when we table our discussions today before the NEC, something positive would come out,” Orji told journalists.
The 10,000 doctors, dissatisfied with government’s tepid response to their ongoing strike action, which entail a downing of tools inside Nigeria’s 76 Teaching Hospitals where they work, were opting for more visibility and hoping for enhanced impact in the suspended protest.
As such, they planned to conduct daily peaceful protests and picketing of 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, to enhance visibility, garner public support and hopefully force meaningful response from government to their requests.
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 insists 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.”
