By Adesuwa Tsan
365Daily – The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has said it will embark on an indefinite strike beginning from April 1, if the Federal Government failed to pay all salaries owed to all house officers, including that of March, before the end of business on March 31, 2021.
The ”total and indefinite strike”, the doctors stated, will commence by 8 a.m.
These, among others, were contained in a communiqué issued on Sunday, March 28, 2021, in Abuja at the end of NARD’s extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) Meeting.
The communique was jointly signed by the association’s President, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi; its Secretary General, Dr Jerry Isogun and Publicity and Social Secretary, Dr Dotun Osikoya.
Other demands made by NARD included an upward review of the current hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers, payment of outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance and abolishment of exorbitant bench fees being paid by members on outside postings in all training institutions across the country.
The association also requested that payment of salary shortfalls of 2014, 2015 and 2016 to members in all Federal Institutions, including state-owned institutions, must be paid as earlier agreed with NARD.
Also listed among the demands is the payment of death in service insurance for all health workers who died as a result of COVID-19 infection and other infectious diseases and a universal domestication and implementation of the 2017 MRTA by all federal and state-owned training institutions to ensure proper funding of residency training in the country as stipulated by the Act.
Furthermore, NARD called for the commencement of employment into all government-owned hospitals to improve service delivery to Nigerians and enhance residency training to curb brain drain in the health sector, in addition to the review of the Act regulating postgraduate medical training in Nigeria in line with international best practices.
The doctors called for the sack of the Registrar of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for incompetence in handling central placement of house officers.
NARD reiterated the commitment of NARD to the smooth running of all tertiary institutions in the country and the provision of specialist healthcare to Nigerians and urged the Federal Government to urgently meet the above demands in order to avert this avoidable industrial action.
(Written with agency report)