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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Resident doctors, under the umbrella of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have suspended their nationwide strike embarked upon in August 2, to register their displeasure over unpaid entitlements and unfair labour treatment.
The doctors said that six weeks was agreed by both parties as a period within which the government is expected to fulfill it’s own side of the bargain or there will be industrial disharmony in the health care system.
Secretary General of the Association, Dr. Suleiman Abiodun, confirmed the development, adding that the decision to end the strike was taken by members of the National Executive Council (NEC) at their meeting held virtually between Friday and Sunday.
He said that after extensive deliberations on the nationwide strike and other developments concerning the doctors, 56 chapters of the association voted for the suspension of the nationwide strike, 28 voted that the strike be continued, while five chapters were marked absent.
He confirmed that government has taken obvious steps that indicate their interest and commitment to industrial peace and harmony in the health care sector, hence the decision to suspend the nationwide strike to allow for more dialogue and negotiation.
He said: “We are new executives of NARD, and as expected, each administration has its leadership style. We choose to end the strike to allow for other ways of resolving the dispute, besides, government has shown interest in an end to the crisis.”
On August 2nd, resident doctors in public health facilities unanimously agreed to withdraw their services nationwide over unpaid allowances and other welfare issues.
The doctors restated they commitment to the smooth running of the public health care sector, but can only do that when their welfare is given the desired attention.
They deliberated on several issues that bordered on undue hardship faced by its members on GIFMIS payment platform leading to delays in payment of their salaries ranging from three to seven months.
They equally noted that despite government promise to migrate members from the GIFMIS to the IPPIS payment platform, some doctors are still stuck on the GIFMIS platform which is laced with payment irregularities.
The doctors were also concerned about the circular from the Head of Service of the Federation removing House Officers from the scheme of service and the consequent implementation by the Lagos State
Government, in addition to that fact that some House Officers are still being owed 1-2 months salaries.
They noted that bench fee for outside postings by Resident Doctors has been abolished, but some Chief Medical Directors still charge the fee as training fee causing hardship on doctors.
