Doctors’ strike paralyses healthcare delivery after months of unpaid salaries
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nyesom Wike is missing as healthcare delivery is grounded in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of which he is the Minister, as doctors in public hospitals on Monday began an indefinite strike over 7 months of unpaid salaries among other unfulfilled obligations by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
The Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) in the FCTA (ARD-FCTA) embarked on the action after their seven-day warning strike ended, leaving many sick residents helpless, particularly those who cannot afford the high cost of treatment in private hospitals.
Patients across the FCT bear the brunt of the strike, with many left unattended as government hospitals offer only skeletal services.
Wike, who often pays television networks heavy sums to broadcast live his tirades against political opponents, has not been sighted in public since the strike began.
It is rumoured that Wike is sick and has jetted off to London for medical treatment.
However, a fact in the public domain is that Senate President Godswill Akpabio (who, like Wike, lives and works in Abuja) also recently returned from London after embarking on his own medical tourism there.
Back in Abuja, at Nyanya General Hospital, a patient, who identified herself as Agatha, said she had been asked to return this week after the warning strike for further medical attention for a persistent cough and fever.
“I went to a pharmacy near my house and bought malaria and cough medicine, but I am still sick. When I returned to the hospital today, I was told the doctors had started an indefinite strike. I don’t know what to do,” she lamented.
Aisha Umar recounted that her son has been unwell for several days, but she waited until Monday to bring him to the hospital after the seven-day warning strike ended, only to be informed that the doctors had already commenced another strike.
Hospitals were turning away new patients last week and asking them to return after the warning strike.
But the situation is changed at Nyanya General Hospital, with only nurses visible on the premises and in the wards, including the emergency unit which are nearly deserted.
A communiqué issued by the ARD-FCTA after an emergency general meeting on Sunday said the strike decision followed the government’s failure to address their long-standing demands despite the expiration of the warning strike.
The doctors, who operate in the 14 District and General Hospitals across the FCT and the Department of Public Health, listed the grievances to include:
- Non-payment of salary arrears ranging from one to seven months for members employed since 2023.
- Non-payment of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF).
- Failure to recruit new doctors despite a severe manpower shortage.
- Non-payment of arrears from the 25/35 per cent CONMESS upward review, hazard allowance arrears, wage award arrears, irregular salary payments.
- Unexplained salary deductions, delayed promotions.
- Stagnation of Fellows awaiting conversion to Consultant cadre.
- Dilapidated state of FCTA hospitals, which are “shadows of decay rather than centres of excellence.”
The doctors resolved that the strike would continue indefinitely until the government demonstrates a “genuine commitment to making health in the FCT a priority.”
ARD-FCTA President George Ebong and General Secretary Agbor Affiong, who signed the communiqué, urged the government to take urgent action “for the sake of our patients and ourselves.”
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