Real reasons for August 10 strike threat —NARD

Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has defended its decision to issue the Federal Government an August 10 ultimatum, saying persistent assaults on doctors, unpaid salary and allowance arrears, and worsening welfare conditions have left the association with no option but to threaten a nationwide industrial action.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, NARD President, Dr. Mohammad Usman Suleiman, said the National Executive Council (NEC) resolved to issue the strike notice after months of unsuccessful engagement with the Federal Government and repeated extensions of earlier deadlines.

“It is unfortunate that we have arrived at this point. The National Executive Council looked at the whole issues in totality. Since we suspended our strike on November 29 last year, we have continuously been engaging the government. We were to resume the strike on January 12, then January 29, then at the end of February and April, but we kept shifting it. At our May Ordinary General Meeting, we gave another three-week ultimatum and later extended it by another four weeks. Now we are here with very valid and vital issues,” Suleiman said.

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Asked whether the Federal Government had been insincere in its engagements with the association, the NARD president declined to question its motives but stressed that the only concern of resident doctors was the resolution of their grievances.

“The National Executive Council is only concerned about results. Whatever the intention is, we should solve problems,” he said.

Suleiman said some of the unresolved issues had lingered for years, citing the Professional Allowance Table, which he said should have been corrected since 2019.

“The professional allowance table was supposed to be corrected since 2019. It was corrected last year, but the Federal Government asked that the arrears should not count from 2019. They counted from June or July 2024, leaving about 18 months of arrears that are currently not being addressed,” he said.

He identified the increasing attacks on healthcare workers as one of the association’s greatest concerns, revealing that about 30 resident doctors had been assaulted in hospitals across the country within the past year.

“In the last one year, about 30 resident doctors have been assaulted in different hospitals in Nigeria. There are another 20 nurses and other healthcare workers affected. Yet only about seven or eight of those cases have led to arrests and prosecution. It is increasingly becoming a realistic fear that you could be assaulted while attending to patients,” he said.

According to him, the attacks often stem from systemic failures within hospitals, including erratic power supply, inadequate infrastructure and other operational challenges that frustrate patients and their relatives.

“The report from our members across more than 100 centres tells us that power is still a challenge. There have been marginal improvements over the years, but we are nowhere near where we should be,” he said.

Suleiman also lamented the welfare conditions of house officers, saying many newly qualified doctors were owed several months’ salaries despite rendering essential services.

“I have house officers—these are the youngest in the profession—about 104 of them have three to five months’ salary arrears, while about 25 have nine months’ arrears. They have been working for nine months without salaries. Even those who receive salaries got January salary by the end of February. That is unacceptable,” he said.

He further criticised the management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for allegedly failing to provide call-duty meals for resident doctors for seven years.

“When you are on call, you are expected to remain in the hospital from 4 p.m. until 8 a.m. the next day, or throughout the weekend. You need food to function. Yet for seven years, doctors in LUTH have not been provided call meals because management claims there is no Federal Government circular authorising it. How do you expect doctors to remain motivated?” he asked.

The NARD president also faulted the prolonged delay in concluding the Medical and Health Workers’ Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), noting that salary reviews in the health sector had remained stagnant for more than a decade.

“We were told last year that the collective bargaining agreement would be concluded in three months. As I speak today, nobody knows when the next meeting will hold. These are the kinds of challenges that breed despair,” he said.

On the continued migration of Nigerian doctors abroad, Suleiman warned that poor welfare conditions were discouraging young doctors from pursuing specialist training and worsening manpower shortages.

Asked whether the association would retreat if the government failed to meet its demands before the August 10 deadline, Suleiman replied: “Absolutely not.“