Despite delaying their planned protest, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has officially confirmed the continuation of their ongoing indefinite strike.
Dr. Innocent Orji, President of NARD, addressed the matter on Channels TV on Wednesday, noting that the Federal Ministry of Health has not engaged with the association.
Commenced on July 26, the strike was initiated after a two-week notice to the government regarding the fulfillment of NARD’s stipulated demands.
These demands encompass the provision of the 2023 medical residency training fund, a clear articulation of staff replacement policies, outstanding payments, and an upward adjustment of the consolidated medical salary structure to align with its 2014 value.
The NARD President said, “Yes we put on hold the protest that was supposed to start this morning (Wednesday) but the strike is continuing. We will review again in 72 hours, that is the position of our national executive council.
“We started this strike about two weeks ago after a series of notices and ultimatum given to the government but it looks as if there was no move on the part of the government to resolve the issue that led to the strike.
“Being concerned about Nigerians we felt that it would not be good to just remain on strike without making an effort to quickly resolve the issue so that we can come back to work.
“So our members met on Saturday. We still gave another window for the government to meet us and resolve the issue before the protest.”
Speaking on the effort of the Ministry of Health to resolve the issues, Orji said, “You see the Ministry of Health has not spoken to us since we started the strike. Unfortunately, if they said they had done that, then we need evidence.
We saw what they were doing, some of the government officials who are supposed to call us and take responsibility, they didn’t call. They were just issuing statements.”
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