After suspending strike, Abuja doctors say Wike yet to deliver on promise
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike is yet to fulfil the financial and other demands of Abuja doctors despite claiming to have approved the paperwork after they suspended the strike they began on September 15 that made life difficult for many residents.
The Association of Resident Doctors in the FCT Administration (ARD-FCTA) says none of its demands has been met.
Wike disclosed in Abuja on Friday that he had approved the demands during the flag off of the construction of the Northern Parkway from Ring Road II to Ring III on Shehu Yar’Adua way, by Life Camp.
“I must commend the resident doctors for calling off the strike, the administration is happy with their understanding. I have signed all the doctors’ requests on my table today,” he said.
ARD-FCTA President George Ebong disclosed that the strike was called off after the intervention of the Senate Committee on Federal Territory Area Councils and Ancillary Matters.
“The Senate Committee on Federal Territory Area Councils and Ancillary Matters intervened. Even though none of our demands has been met yet, they assured us that they will talk to the Minister [Wike], and the Congress has decided to believe what the Senate committee has said,” Ebong announced in a WhatsApp message.
“Our high regards for the Senate committee, our respect for the FCT Minister and our love for our patients are the reasons for the strike to be suspended, hoping that all our demands would be met. We have to keep saving lives as we have sworn to do.”
The doctors on Monday declared an indefinite strike, citing the “failure of management to address our legitimate demands, even after a one-week warning strike” over “systemic failures in the FCT’s health sector.”
They listed among their grievances unpaid salaries, unexplained deductions, acute manpower shortages, psychological toll of long working hours, and the absence of new recruitment in FCT hospitals since 2011.
Read also:
Economist attributes lowering food prices to harvest season that may later vanish
 Minister Nyesom Wike is yet to fulfil the financial and other demands of ....){kind=link}