Over the five-day warning strike, resident doctors and the FG come to a truce

The resident doctors also voiced concern about the fact that their Abia State colleagues “have been on strike for several months for persistent non-payment of salaries.”

A deal about the association’s five-day warning strike has been reached between the resident doctors and the federal government.

After a 14-day deadline to the government expired, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) started a five-day warning strike to make its demands clear.

According to a report by Channels Television, doctors are requesting an immediate raise in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure equal to 200 percent of their existing gross wages.

Concerned by the state of affairs, the doctors met with the Senate and House of Representatives Health Committees as well as Dr. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, on Friday to discuss their requests.

This was revealed in a statement released on Sunday by the ministry’s spokesman, Olajide Oshundun, who claimed that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the conclusion of a conciliatory meeting called by Ngige at his office.

The statement stated, “The Federal Government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), with a view to ending the five-day nationwide warning strike by resident doctors.

“In order to suspend the strike they began last Wednesday, May 17, 2023, the meeting decided that NARD officers must inform their members of the outcome of the MOU in an emergency meeting within 48 hours.”

The meeting decided that NARD should re-present the list to the Ministry of Health on Monday, May 22, with annexes of the previous submission and a copy to the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment. This was done in response to the issue of doctors not receiving the Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustment.

The resident doctors also voiced concern about the fact that their Abia State colleagues “have been on strike for several months for persistent non-payment of salaries.”

The statement claims that after investigating the situation and referring it to the National Council on Health (NCoH) in Abuja, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) urged the Abia State Government to pay for providing the people with decent health.