The National Executive Council (NEC) of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) rejected the accoutrement allowance and the 25% increase in the base wage of doctors on Saturday.
They reiterated that their initial demand is for the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to be fully restored to its proper worth as of the time the structure was approved in 2009.
The doctors also insisted that the ongoing entire nationwide strike would not end unless the government made reasonable progress towards addressing their demands as outlined in their ultimatum delivered to the federal government on July 5.
The protesting doctors stated their stance in a statement that was jointly signed by the President, Dr. Orji Emeka Innocent, the Secretary-General, Dr. Chikezie Kelechi, and the Publicity & Social Secretary, Dr. Uma Musa. They called the 25% a “paltry” figure and vowed the strike will continue.
They demanded the immediate release of the circular on the One-for-One policy for the replacement of exited clinical workers for implementation in the “LasGIDI 2023” communique, which was issued at the conclusion of its NEC meeting with the theme “Bullying in Medical Practise: a matter of Perspective?” They could not stand by and watch their members lose their lives and crumble under the strain of work overload caused by the massive depletion of clinical staff in the hospitals.
They noted that despite numerous government assurances, the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) has still not received payment.
“For the avoidance of doubt, these governors are expected to among others, clear all salary backlogs, pay promotion arrears, adopt/review the CONMESS salary structure, review the hazard allowance, and domesticate the medical residency training act as well as pay the MRTF using the new circular issued by NSIWC in January 2023 (as was done by their counterparts in Delta, Benue Ogun and Osun states);
“ To vehemently reject the casualization of doctors under any guise in all tertiary health institutions in Nigeria, warning that this could be a subject of industrial action shortly if not nipped in the bud now;
“To call for the immediate unconditional release of our trainer, Prof. Ekanem Philip-Ephraim of UCTH Calaber, and to call on the government to beef up security in the country to forestall such occurrences;
“To persuade the federal government to consider ways of placating Nigerians who have to grapple daily with the burden of living in the post-subsidy era, while calling on the government to ensure that savings from the subsidy removal would be prudently utilized for the common good.”
They further appealed to the Federal and state governments to urgently resolve these demands to forestall the further escalation of the ongoing industrial disharmony in the health sector nationwide.
