Follow Us on Google
From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Mrs. Bature is expected to undergo an operation for lipoma at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), but as she told our correspondent, the procedure has been postponed several times because of the strike embarked upon by the National Association of Resident Doctors.
She said she’s still waiting since the ailment is not life threatening.
Hundreds of patients like Mrs. Bature, have had to bear to the consequences of the action by the residents, a situation, Dr. Njem Miner, a Consultant Cardiothoracic and Minimal Access Surgeon, is taking a toll on the consultants who have to work extra to cover the gap.
According to him, the resident doctors represent a large chunk of the operation of any teaching hospital and if such a huge chunk is removed from the system, it will definitely have a significant effect on the operation of the hospital.
He said, “The resident doctors constitute the bulk of doctors in federal institutions and imagine when such a huge chunk is removed from a system that’s already starved of adequate manpower. The consultants cannot manage the situation alone. So the government must act fast to prevent the situation from deteriorating.”
However, respite is not in sight as the resident doctors said they will continue the strike until their demands are met.
The National President of NARD, Dr. Mohammed Suleiman, told our correspondent in an interview that even though the government has released some funds, it was a far cry to the demand of the doctors
He said, “Even though the government has released some funds and doctors are currently being paid, we are still at the negotiation table discussing how to implement some other issues.
“For instance the entry level into civil service for doctors that was downgraded from CONMESS 3 to CONMESS 2, that one reduced removes over a hundred thousand Naira from the salaries of doctors.
Other News
We are also talking about the professional allowance table. The release of that table has still not been given to us
“The specialist allowance for senior registrars we are still discussing how that will be implemented
“Our colleagues from Kogi have still not been reinstated. We’re still discussing how that can be done.
“There are some of our colleagues who have passed exams and are supposed to be upgraded from CONMESS 3 to commerce 4 some of them from CONMESS 4 to CONMESS 5; that upgrade has not been done.
“Some of our colleagues in Owo, Uyo and and in Federal University of Health Science Otukpo, they have areas ranging from three months all the way up to 18 months to 20 months that has still yet to be sorted
“We have promotion arrears for medical officers all the way back to some even 2018, 2019 some 2021 till date that that has still not been sorted. Those arrears are currently being compiled for us to know when the federal government will be able to pay
“So, you can see there’s still a whole lot of issues to sort out but we are hoping that the federal government will still be at the table to put some finality to some of these things so that we can agree that it will be done as as soon as um um possible.”
Also speaking on the strike, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Plateau, Dr. Yilji Kumtap, called on the federal government to implement the demands of the resident doctors so as to prevent a collapse of the healthcare system in the country.
