Respite as resident doctors suspend strike for four weeks

The National Association of Resident Doctors has suspended its strike for an initial period of four weeks.

President of the association, Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, said Saturday night, “The strike has been suspended for four weeks and isolation centres resume 8am on Sunday and others on Monday.”

The strike commenced on April 1 after a meeting with a government delegation on March 31 ended in a deadlock.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, later threatened the doctors with the ‘no-work, no-pay’ rule, a day after the strike commenced.

But the doctors were adamant as they continued with their strike, leaving only few doctors to attend to emergency situations.

Resident doctors, who are undergoing training to become consultants, make up a large percentage of doctors in Nigeria’s tertiary hospitals.

Some of the demands of the doctors include payment of outstanding salaries and allowances and an increase in hazard allowance.

The leadership of the resident doctors met with a government delegation on Friday during which the government pledged to meet most of the doctors’ demands.

The minister said on Saturday in Abuja that a Memorandum of Agreement was signed after the conciliatory meeting.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Ngige said the Federal Government had set up a committee to look into the issue of irregular payment, adding that the panel would revert within the next 72 hours.

“A five-man committee has been set up, comprising the government agencies concerned — Federal Ministry of Health, chairing — representatives of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, accountant general’s office, NMA, Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, and the chairman of the committee of CMDs,” the minister said.

He also said, “They’re to work and smoothen rough edges as those affected in the irregularities we mentioned, which is the issue of double payments in some cases. So, they have to manage the situation and regularise. There are issues of some still omitted.

“We gave them 72 hours to meet from tomorrow and give us a clean, authenticated list, so that even in the subsequent months, we won’t have all these hiccups anymore.”