NARD STRIKE AND NGIGE’S THREAT

The government has every chance to resolve the dispute through dialogue

Labour and Employment Minister, Chris Ngige, on Friday talked tough as he threatened that if the striking Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) members do not resume work this week, they would be replaced. “If you go to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) principles at work, it guarantees a worker’s right to strike, but with consequences,” said Ngige in a language that shows clearly that this crisis may not be resolved quickly to the detriment of patients who are already dying in droves at the hospitals. “Your employer on essential services, in particular, has the right to replace you. He will also withdraw your remuneration and use it to pay those acquired when you were away.”

We do not believe that the federal government is adopting the right approach to this problem. Healthcare delivery is critical to the well-being of any society. But over the years, the attention of government, both at the state and federal levels, is at best half-hearted and peripheral. The resident doctors, like their earlier strike during the Covid-19 pandemic, are not demanding anything new. Their strikes often result from government failure to fulfil agreements freely entered. In this case, the doctors are asking that their salaries and allowances be paid. They are also demanding for an upward review of the hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated basic salaries of all health workers and payment of the outstanding COVID-19 inducement allowance, especially in state-owned-tertiary institutions.

These are legitimate and reasonable demands, considering the risks medical doctors are exposed to daily. Many of them and other health workers died due to lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the early days of the pandemic. We understand that the authorities are yet to reach out to the families of the 19 doctors who lost their lives during the pandemic. If the dead are treated with disdain, what is the source of motivation to the living? Besides, every labourer is entitled to their wages. The cost of allowing doctors to go on strike, especially at this period, is high. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), for every qualified COVID-19 doctor unable to work, not less than 600 patients will be affected.

Last week, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association has also issued a threat that they would join forces with their colleagues if their grievances were not addressed, an action that will aggravate the already bad situation. Already, patients requiring healthcare in most government hospitals across the country are being turned back as doctors are not on ground to attend to them. Many who may require emergency services and without enough funds to seek healthcare in private hospitals are now at risk. Many have died. The federal government must find a way to put an end to incessant strikes that take heavy toll on human lives.

Despite the claims by Ngige, we do not have sufficient professionals to replace the many practicing doctors who are being forced to seek greener pastures elsewhere because of the inadequate attention to the health sector. We can only appeal to the doctors to consider the interest of their suffering patients. For one, their Hippocratic Oath obligates them to save the several lives that are now being lost due to the prevailing dispute. But the time has also come for the government to overhaul its collective bargaining machinery with a view to ensuring effective implementation of agreements.

We consider the ongoing strike very unfortunate as the development is piling more pressure on already weak and fragile health system and bringing untold hardship among Nigerians. More disturbing is that the country is up against perhaps the most virulent species of COVID-19, which killed 29 within four days last week, with the infection spreading rapidly across the country. Besides, there is raging Cholera epidemic across many states. The threat by Ngige cannot be a solution to the challenge at hand. He must find a way to reach a compromise with NARD members. These strikes are hugely inimical to the health of the economy and, in many ways, disruptive of the social order. There is an urgent need to stem this ugly trend.