Resident Doctors Strike Unwarranted – FG

The Federal Government
has said the strike declared by the National Association of Resident Doctors was unwarranted.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said, Monday, while speaking to journalists during the opening ceremony of a retreat organised for chairmen of boards of management, governing boards, governing councils, Chief Executive Officers and Directors of Administration of tertiary hospitals and parastatals in Abuja.
Chukwu said, “The strike by Resident Doctors was uncalled for because we were already handling the issues after our meeting with the Nigerian Medical Association. I still remember that the NMA gave us an ultimatum to look at certain issues and we had a very long meeting with the NMA and indeed NARD participated in that meeting.
“There is a committee being chaired by Head of Civil Service of the Federation in which the NMA, including NARD, are well represented. These are the same matters being handled; so there are persons already in a committee handling those issues and they should have exercised some patience. We understand that some of the issues have not been resolved but I think we can do well and exercise some patience before going on strike because when we go on strike, peoples’ lives are involved,” he added.
The minister directed that hospitals owing workers should compile the number of months they are owing House Officers for onward transfer to the Directors in charge of administration.
Meanwhile, the Provost, College of Medicine, Idi-Araba, Prof Folasade Ogunsola, has said that medical students are affected negatively whenever the resident octors embark on a strike.
Ogunsola, who spoke during the KB Klub’s annual philanthropic day in Lagos, noted that crisis in the health sector was not good for students in the profession.
She explained that resident doctors helped in training medical students, adding that it was necessary for government to curb strike actions in the health sector.
She said, “Resident doctors’ strike will have a negative impact on medical students. It will affect the students’ training. This is because the resident doctors are part of those who assist us in training medical students from clinical centres. They are actually doctors in training for specialisation.”