Resident doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, (NARD), have resolved to embark on a five-day warning strike starting from Wednesday.
The Editor gathered that the doctors decided to embark on the warning strike following the failure of the federal government to meet their demands.
It would be recalled that NARD had on April 29, 2023, issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal government to meet its demands or face industrial action.
It was however learnt that the two-week ultimatum ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
It was against this backdrop that the doctors after their six and half hours extraordinary National Executive Council meeting held virtually on Monday, resolved to embark on the warning strike.
The association said the strike would will commence at 8 am on Wednesday, May 17, and will end Monday, May 22, at 8 am.
The NARD President, Dr Emeka Orji reportedly told The Punch that the strike would be total, involving both emergency and clinical operations in the hospitals.
Orji said despite the ultimatum issued to the government which ended on May 13, the government did not negotiate with the doctors regarding their demands.
Part of what the doctors are demanding includes the immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200% of the current gross salaries of doctors, the immediate withdrawal of the bill seeking to compel medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services in Nigeria before being granted full licences to practise.
Other demands are the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act, and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done; among others.
