Kaduna Resident Doctors Begin Strike, Oct 2

The Association of Residents Doctors in Kaduna State  said Yesterday that its members would proceed on an indefinite strike from October  2.
President of the association, Dr Joseph Natsah-Jokshan who made the announcement at a press briefing in Kaduna said a 21-day strike notice had been forwarded to the government after a congress meeting of the association on September 9.
He said the ultimatum was to compel the government to implement the 2011 agreement it entered with the association.
Our correspondent reports that the agreement was on funding, equipping and staffing of hospitals, salary payment, residency training, and implementation of corrected Consolidated Medical Salary Structure among others.
The NARD president explained that doctors in the state were overstretched, with doctor/population ratio at one to 4,000, as against 600 recommended by the World Health Organization.
“The situation is even worse as one move to rural areas. It is therefore requisite that measures should be put in place to correct this.
“We are aware of government’s efforts to recruit about 100 doctors into the current workforce and that is highly commendable, but infrastructure and doctors welfare must also be addressed.
“Currently, Kaduna State has the lowest remuneration among other states in the North West zone and in spite of this, some of our colleagues are owed up to 10 months salary.
“As a result many doctors have left to other states with better prospect, which further compounded the issues, particularly in rural areas where most of the General Hospitals have only two doctors.
“This has resulted in a lot of quackery, as most patients are forced to seek medical care elsewhere, with detrimental outcomes and needless loss of lives,” he said.