The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has declared a five-day warning strike following the failure of the Federal Government to meet its demands.
The resident doctors said the strike would commence at 8am on Wednesday, May 17, and would end Monday, May 22, at 8am.
This was the decision reached after its six and a half hours Extraordinary National Executive Council meeting of the association held virtually on Monday.
NARD had on April 29, 2023, issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands or face industrial disharmony.
The ultimatum ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salaries of doctors.
The doctors also want the immediate withdrawal of the bill seeking to compel medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services in Nigeria before being granted full licence to practise.
They also want the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act, and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done; among others.
The President of NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, told The Tide source that the strike was total, involving both emergency and clinical operations in the hospitals.
“The strike is total and that is the decision made by the NEC. NEC voted for a five-day total warning strike, commencing on Wednesday, May 17, and it will end on Monday, May 22, 2023, by 8am,” he said.
Orji said despite the ultimatum issued to the government, the government did not negotiate with the doctors regarding their demands.
Also, the Secretary-General of NARD, Dr Chikezie Kelechi, said if nothing was done by the government at the end of the warning strike, the next line of action would be decided at the NARD’s Ordinary General Meeting and Scientific Conference which will be held in Lagos, from May 28 to June 3, 2023.
“Since the ultimatum, the government has not said a thing, they have not invited us for any meeting regarding the demands we made. We think that it is an insult to the association and a slap on us. It shows that the government does not have the interest of the people and the health sector.
“The least the government could have done was to call us for negotiations. Probably they were daring us to know what we could do. We are worried that the patients will suffer, but we are sending this warning strike as a message to the government and if nothing is done after the warning strike, there will definitely be a total, indefinite strike.
“We are giving them a 24-hour already, so the patients and relatives still have time before we commence the strike to make proper arrangements. The patients in the hospitals should be handed over to the consultants since they are not on strike.”
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, could not respond to inquiries by our correspondent on the matter. He did not take his calls and had yet to respond to a text message sent to him on the matter as of the time of filing this report.