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By Lara Adejoro
As Nigeria marks its 61st independence, the ongoing strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors also enters its day 61 today (Friday).
This is even as the resident doctors insist that it will continue the total and indefinite strike action until its demands are met.
Recall that the NARD had at the end of its National Executive Council meeting in Umuahia on July 31, announced a strike action that began on August 2, 2021.
The doctors said they unanimously resolved by vote to resume its strike after a critical appraisal of the performance of both Federal and State Governments on all the issues affecting their welfare and the insincerity of the government in implementing the Memorandum of Action after 113 days.
Some of the demands include the migration of doctors from the Government Integrated Financial Management System platform to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System platform, review of hazard allowance, inconsistency in payment of salaries, death allowances for members of the association who died during COVID-19.
Other demands are the withdrawal of the case against them in court and the payment of their withheld August and September salaries.
The Federal government had through the Minister of Labour and Employment; Dr. Chris Ngige instituted a suit against the doctors over the abdication of its responsibilities.
Part of the declaration as sought by the Federal Government was whether or not the “no work, no pay” rule should not be applied against the defendant.
The suit also contained a prayer seeking an order of the court to direct the striking doctors to return to work.
While the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has described the failure of the doctors to comply with the court order directing them to suspend their strike, the striking doctors say they will continue the strike until their minimum demands are met.
Reacting to claims by NARD that it would not suspend the strike while speaking on a television programme, ‘Politics Today, Ngige said, “That is contemptuous. That is contempt of the court decision.
“We will not bow down against contempt but I’m not interested in those things. It is the Minister of Health and Attorney-General that can be looking into those things. My take is to invite them back and show them the degree of implementation of the MoU they signed in my office. They refused to sign but their parent body, NMA signed, consultants association signed, and others.”
Meanwhile, President of NARD, Dr. Dare Ishaya said strike actions are a last resort when the government fails to honour agreements after repeated negotiations.
“At our end, this leadership, through robust collaboration, will work to envisage, present and solve challenges well ahead of time. However, if antecedents are anything to go by, the most important solution to incessant strike actions in the health sector will be a show of commitment from the government especially by increasing funding to the sector and also honouring their promises and agreements with health workers.
“We are a new leadership, but we have to hit the ground running in a bid to solve the problems that are at hand. We plan to meet with all the stakeholders, appraise and resolve the issues. We think it’s time to sit down together and begin a rollback, and redirection to the path of finding solutions rather than creating more technicalities.
“On our side, we stated in our press briefing following our Annual General Meeting held last week in Bauchi that the Federal Government should reverse the unnecessary actions they took during this period of the strike which includes withholding of August and September 2021 salaries and also withdrawal of the court case instituted against our association.
“The government should also commence payment of the Medical Residency Training Fund and also salary arrears of resident doctors owed on the GIFMIS platform,” he told PUNCH HealthWise.
According to Ishaya, resident doctors under the employment of Abia, Imo, Ekiti, and Ondo State Governments who are currently being owed 20, six, and four months salaries respectively, should be paid.
“If these are done, it will show the government’s commitment to the welfare of our members and we will reciprocate the gesture by ending the strike action. We are always open and ready for meetings and negotiations in this direction,” he said.