It is time the whole world hears our side of the story – the decay and corruption in the health sector, as well as the neglect the public health institutions have suffered all these years.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has announced that it will proceed on nationwide peaceful protests on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, to press home its demands to the Federal Government.
This was contained in a statement signed by the President of the association, Dr Orji, Emeka Innocent and its Secretary General, Dr Chikezie Kelechi on Saturday and made available to 365Daily.
The statement said the decision was reached by the National Executive Council of NARD, adding that members of the union will also picket the Federal Ministry of Health, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, as well as all federal and state tertiary health institutions nationwide.
It added that this was necessary in order to “press home our demands which have been largely neglected by our parent ministry and the federal government.”
The doctors added that they were “pained that rather than make genuine and concerted efforts to resolve the challenges that led to the industrial action despite repeated ultimatums, our parent ministry and the Federal Government have chosen to demonise Nigerian resident doctors instead, after all their sacrifices and patriotism.
“We therefore resolved that it is time the whole world hears our side of the story – the decay and corruption in the health sector, as well as the neglect the public health institutions have suffered all these years that led to repeated industrial actions.
“We believe that the government still has time to genuinely address the issues at stake before Wednesday, 9th August 2023, or leave us with no other option,” they stated.