Many
Nigerians who reported sick at federal government-owned medical
facilities nationwide yesterday were stunned to find out that doctors
had embarked on an indefinite strike, leaving them stranded and at the
mercy of private hospitals...
Their
woes were compounded by their inability to access funds to look
elsewhere for medical care as banks were closed as a result of the
Eid-Maulud holiday which began last Friday.
Medical
doctors under the umbrella of the National Association of Resident
Doctors (NARDS) had commenced an indefinite nationwide strike in the
early hours of yesterday following the rejection by its National
Executive Council, of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) its leadership had signed with the federal government last week.
The
development attracted a firm rebuke from the Minister of Labour and
Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who condemned the strike describing it
as an act of sabotage.
His
Ministry of Health counterpart, Prof. Isaac Adewole, however, sued for
peace, pleading with the doctors to return to work and give the federal
government time to resolve their grievances.
The resident doctors had last week met with Ngige and Adewole, where the federal government made some offers to them.
But
a terse statement signed by NARD President, Dr. Onyebueze John, in
Abuja yesterday said: “Rising from our National Executive Council
meeting, which started by 7pm yesterday (Sunday) and ended 3amtoday
(Monday), we have resolved to reject the promissory offer from
government and proceed on total and indefinite strike action until all
items in our demand list for strike action are resolved by government.”
The
association had last week warned that it might embark on an indefinite
strike from September 4th if its demands were not met by the federal
government.
It had demanded that all heads of tertiary health institutions that have received funding from the federal government
for the payment of all outstanding financial obligations to its members
should pay them immediately, adding that its members were demanding the
resolution of persistent shortfalls and unpaid arrears of salaries
earned in both federal and state tertiary health institutions.
Other
issues in dispute include the demand for the enrolment of resident
doctors into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS)
since 2003 and non-implementation of adjusted House Officers’ Entry
grade level equivalent since 2014.
The
resident doctors are also asking for the resolution of the stagnation
of promotion and non-promotion of members who had met requisite criteria
despite all collective bargaining agreements and circulars.
In
his reaction yesterday, Ngige in a statement yesterday by his Special
Adviser on Media, Mr. Nwachukwu Obidiwe, said the strike was
unnecessary, expressing surprise that NARD downed tools despite
assurances to the contrary.
He
said NARD had marathon negotiations with the federal government team
led by Adewole and him as well as other relevant actors in the industry
where some understanding was reached to shelve the strike.
According
to the minister, the strike was totally uncalled for, adding that there
was no reason for the doctors to abandon their duty post other than to
embarrass and sabotage the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
administration.
Ngige
said he was totally taken aback by the strike because he had the
commitment of NARD President John that the doctors were satisfied with
the assurances given by the federal government that their concerns would
be dealt with.
He
said: “The President of the Resident Doctors Association, Dr.
Onyebueze, expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the meeting. Here
are the extract
and the video recording of his statement: ‘From the conclusions, we
reached here, they are far reaching; that will go a long way in
assuaging the members that are already aggrieved and feel that all
issues have not been sorted out. Like we said, these issues have been
lingering since 2013 but we have a new hope and we feel we have seen the
green light at the end of the tunnel. I want to believe that if this
document is presented to our members, we are very hopeful it will be given a favourable consideration. Thank you so much.’
Ngige
asked: “What then happened? One is therefore forced to ask whether it
is a case of weak national leadership on the part of the executive of
NARD or an outright sabotage of the efforts of the Buhari
administration?”
Adewole,
on whose shoulder the health sector rests, however, appealed to the
doctors to suspend the strike in the interest of Nigerians who were in
need of medical care.
The
Health minister in a statement yesterday, gave assurances of the
federal government’s commitment to addressing all the issues in
contention, saying government needed a little more time to address all
the issues.
According to him: “Another round of meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, September 6, 2017,
and it is hoped that more progress would have been made in reaching a
consensus on all the issues being discussed,” adding that the Buhari
administration was determined to promote industrial harmony in the Health sector.
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