NARD commences indefinite strike action, decries negligence by FG

Strike actions are not new to Nigerians. It is assumed by most professional groups, associations and trade unions to be the only language the government at all levels understand especially when they have pressing needs that are not being met by the government.

In this light, while many had their routine night rests, members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD faced their fears and stayed up all night to deliberate on pertinent issues regarding the welfare of their members.

At the dawn of a new day, Wednesday, NARD disclosed that it had embarked on an indefinite strike action while decrying the federal government’s lack of interest on matters concerning the welfare of it’s members, according to NARD president, Dr Emeka Orji.

Dr Emeka Orji who disclosed this to newsmen said the strike had commenced since 12am on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 following a unanimous decision that was made during the July National Executive Council meeting in Lagos on Tuesday night.

According to the president, some of the age-long demands of the resident doctors, which the federal government has remained unbothered about since the beginning of the year include:

• The implementation of the one-for-one replacement policy for healthcare workers.
• The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to discontinue the downgrading of the membership certificate issued by the West African Postgraduate Medical and Surgical Colleges.
• The immediate payment of all salary arrears.
• Implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure and a new hazard allowance as well as
• The domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act; among others.

Furthermore, the president in his statement said, “Our members are saying that we have been on this since January on the same issues, and they are not going to continue to wait.

“The very important part of our demands is one-for-one replacement, and doctors are still leaving and the ones remaining are being overworked.

“Last week, a doctor died in Bayelsa State. Doctors are dying from being overworked, and we have been on this for a long time.

“When we met on Friday, everybody was calling for a strike, and I just had to plead with them because the Secretary to the Government, George Akume, intervened, but up till today, we cannot reach them again, and nobody wants to hear about any intervention by the government again.”

NARD had on April 29, 2023, issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet its demands – a call to which the federal government gave deaf ears until the ultimatum ended on May 13, 2023.

This led the resident Doctors to embark on a five day warning strike on Wednesday, May 17 over unmet demands.

NARDs’ five-day warning strike eventually ended on Monday, May 22 with the federal government making no efforts yet again.

On July 6, NARD issued the Government another two-week ultimatum to meet its demands while threatening to embark on a nationwide strike if it’s demands were not met.

At that time, the association said the ultimatum would end on July 19 as it claimed that it had given the government sufficient time to begin implementation of the resolutions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed on.

Up till now, the association’s needs have been left unattended to and these constitute some of the reasons behind the nationwide strike embarked upon by the body on Wednesday.