The Impending Doctors’ Strike

Barring unforeseen
circumstances, medical doctors under the aegis of National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, will commence an indefinite strike action on Tuesday if their demands are not met. The doctors’ declaration of the impending strike should be a wake-up call to the federal authorities to act quickly before they make good their threat.
The casualties resulting from the warning strike the doctors embarked on recently, calls for immediate action by the government to halt what could become another long-drawn industrial action by medical doctors in the country. If this strike is allowed to hold, it will spell untold consequences for a larger number of Nigerians who rely on public hospitals for their health needs.
One does not have to look too far to see the devastating effects of the three days warning strike by the doctors. The warning strike paralysed virtually all health institutions in the country, all in a bid to press home their demands on certain issues that militate against the medical profession.
What are the grievances of the doctors? They are complaining about the non-implementation of all Memoranda of Understanding and circulars regarding skipping of CONMESS 2 and recertification of anomalies in 2009 CONMESS circular reflected in the circular of January 3, 2014. In case you do not know, CONMESS is the title given to the special salary scale approved by the Federal Government for medical workers in the country.
Another grouse of the doctors is government’s acceptance of salary parity demanded by other workers in the health sector under the umbrella of Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU. Besides, there are also pending issues like gross underpayment, non-payment of promotion arrears, as well as the failure of government to produce a blueprint on residency programme in league with the association and other stakeholders.
The NARD revealed this position during its last warning strike action, and it reinforces it with an ultimatum for a strike slated for 1st July which is just a day away. To make matters worse, its parent body, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has consented to the demands of NARD and has given the same deadline to the government to resolve the contentious issues.
If there is anything the impending strike will prove to Nigerians, it is whether or not the government can muster the will and resolve to salvage the health sector from total collapse at this critical moment. This is because the strike, if allowed to take place, will deal a final blow to the worsening situation in the nation’s health sector.
Given the importance of medical doctors and indeed other professionals in our health care delivery system, it is imperative for the Federal Government, which has the responsibility of addressing the issues, to seek audience with the aggrieved doctors immediately in order to save the nation the agony of a protracted strike. This country already suffers from a number of strikes, such as the one by polytechnic lecturers and some others. We don’t desire more.
How can one explain a situation where strike has become the order of the day? No country develops in an atmosphere of incessant strikes, especially by important segments of its workforce. Unfortunately, one issue that has always precipitated strikes is government’s failure to honour agreements it willingly enters into with labour unions. This concern has to be examined critically.
The issue of training of resident doctors has become a recurring decimal and constitutes the core of most strike actions embarked upon by the doctors. It is high time the authorities addressed the challenges.
In other countries, for instance, residency programme is funded adequately. But the reverse is the case here. Funding of the programme is not prioritised. Though the government has been offering training to its doctors in the various teaching hospitals, it has failed to legitimize the exercise through a national policy. This negligence apparently frustrates the funding of the residency programme.
For example, no funding provision is made for the training of resident doctors in the 2014 national health budget due to lack of a legal framework. Rather it is the heads of the hospitals that use their discretion to determine what to allocate to the programme when they get their funds. Also, the time limit for residency is not stipulated.
In Nigeria, resident doctors constitute more than 70 per cent of the medical workforce in our tertiary hospitals. That is why everything has to be done to avert the soon-to-be declared strike action.
On the other hand, resident doctors should explore options other than strike to resolve their differences with the authorities in the interest of the poor and helpless Nigerians who are always the victims of such actions. Strikes in the health sector should be sparingly used in view of their irreversible repercussions.

Arnold Alalibo