The resident doctors want immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), payment of all their salary arrears among others.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has announced a five-day warning strike to begin from 8am on Wednesday, May 17 to 8am Monday, May 22, 2023.
The doctors reached the decision on Monday at their extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held virtually.
On April 29, 2023, the resident doctors issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet their demands or face industrial action. The ultimatum ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
NARD president, Dr. Emeka Orji, said that if the government fails to respond to the issues after the five-day warning strike, they will have no choice than to embark on an indefinite strike.
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“The update from the meeting is that our members all over the country have given us the mandate to declare a total strike. The strike is starting from Wednesday this week for five days, after which we will review the situation.
“And if the government is yet to respond to all the issues that we have enumerated, of course no one will blame us if we then come up with an indefinite strike action,” he was quoted as saying by Leadership.
The doctors want immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), payment of all their salary arrears, 200 percent gross salary increment in addition to the new allowances included in the letter they wrote to the Minister of Health on the 7th of July 2022 for the review of consolidated medical salary structure (CONMESS).
They also want the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of MRTA, and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done.