Doctors To Embark On Five-Day Strike Tomorrow

Post created on 9:41 am

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) will tomorrow begin a five-day warning strike in reaction to the Federal Government’s failure to meet its demands.

After a six-hour National Executive Council (NEC) meeting yesterday, the association said the warning strike will commence at 8 am and end on Monday, May 22, at 8 am.

On April 29 a two-week ultimatum was issued to the Federal Government to meet its demands which ended on Saturday.

The resident doctors said the refusal of the government to either reach out or call for a meeting led to the decision of a nationwide five-day warning strike.

It hopes that within the period, the government will take steps to address the demands.

NARD, however, stressed that if the current government, although in transition, does not intervene meaningfully, it would embark on a full-blown indefinite strike nationwide.

However, the president of NARD, Dr. Emeka Orji has called on the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to bring his experience to bear and intervene in the issue.

He stated that the intervention of the President-elect will send a message of hope to its members, and indeed, Nigerians, that his government will not be a strike-mongering administration.

Among the demands by the doctors is a 200 per cent review of their Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) and issuance of a circular by the House of Representatives jettisoning the bill by  Ganiyu Johnson, which seeks to stop young doctors from leaving the country without a five-year service period.