Recently, the medical doctors under the aegis of Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) suspended the indefinite strike they embarked upon on July 26. The suspension followed series of interventions by various stakeholders and calls on the association not to embark on the industrial action in the first place. Among those who strived to prevent the industrial action was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas. The doctors had embarked on an indefinite strike to draw attention to their demands for better condition of service. These were the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement and payment of owed allowances.
Others included the upward review of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) in line with full salary restoration to the 2014 value of CONMESS and payment of the arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum wage to omitted doctors. There was also the demand for the reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN). NARD also demanded the payment of MRTF, new hazard allowance, skipping and implementation of corrected CONMESS in state tertiary health institutions and payment of omitted hazard allowance arrears.
This is not the first time NARD would be going on strike this year. Earlier on May 17, the association had embarked on a five-day warning strike to press home its demands for enhanced welfare and condition of service for its members.
Apart from the doctors, other unions in the health sector have at various times pulled out their members from work over one grievance or the other. On June 5, 2023, health workers’ union under the umbrella of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) suspended its 12-day-old strike after meeting with President Bola Tinubu. The union commenced an indefinite strike on 25 May, following the failure of the federal government to meet its demands that included the immediate approval and implementation of the technical committee report on CONHESS adjustment by the government; immediate payment of the omission and shortfall in the COVID-19 hazard/inducement allowances of affected health workers in federal health institutions.
For years running, the health sector has always been embroiled in strike at one time or the other by the various unions. The actions usually centre on inadequate welfare package for the personnel and obsolete equipment. The work environment is frustrating, making the professionals in the sector to seek employment abroad. The welfare package in the sector is poor, call and other hazard allowances are also not forthcoming. The rising insecurity in the country has also not helped matters.
The International College of Surgeons, Nigerian Section (ICS-NS), recently lamented that the number of Nigerian doctors that have moved to the United Kingdom (UK), has risen to about 6,221 in the last six years. The implication is that the widening gap of doctor-to-patient ratio in the country, which now stands at one doctor to over 4,000 patients contrary to the World Health Organisation’s standard of one doctor to 600 patients.
A 2022 estimate put the number of Nigeria-trained doctors practising in the country at over 10,000. According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) of the UK, the number of Nigeria-trained nurses increased by 68.4 per cent from 2,790 in March 2017 to 7,256 in March 2022.
Each time the health professionals go on strike or leave the country, the Nigerian people suffer. Every other sector is important but any industrial action in the health sector has deleterious effect on most Nigerians. Most industrial actions in the sector are mainly due to the government’s failure to honour agreements. Let the government address the challenges of the sector.
Government should stop paying lip service to the health sector considering its vital role in the overall wellbeing of the people. There should be a new template in addressing the issues raised by the professionals in the health sector. The present attitude of ‘no-work, no-pay’ rule and other fire brigade approaches to resolving industrial disputes in the sector should be done away with.
There is need to reposition the health sector. Let the government increase the budgetary allocation to health from the present four or five per cent to at least 20 per cent. Since health is in the concurrent legislative list in the 1999 Constitution, it should not be left entirely for the federal government. The states and local governments should also be involved, at least, at the secondary and primary levels, respectively. More money should be voted for the sector.