Following the failure of the Federal Government to meet its requests, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has launched a five-day warning strike.
The strike will begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 17, and will end at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 22.
This decision was made following the association’s six-and-a-half-hour special National Executive Council meeting on Monday.
On April 29, 2023, NARD gave a two-week deadline to the Federal Government to accept its demands or suffer industrial unrest.
The ultimatum expired on May 13, 2023.
Doctors are asking for an immediate increase in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure of 200 percent of their present gross wages.
The doctors also demand that the bill requiring medical and dental graduates to do five years of obligatory service in Nigeria before being awarded the full license to practice be withdrawn immediately.
They also want CONMESS to be implemented immediately, the Medical Residency Training Act to be domesticated, and a review of risk allowance by all state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any sort of residency training is done, among other things.
Dr. Emeka Orji, President of NARD, told The PUNCH that the strike was total, affecting both emergency and clinical activities in hospitals.
Dr. Orji stated that despite the government’s ultimatum, which expired on May 13, the government did not negotiate with the doctors about their requests.
