Relief, as Resident Doctors Suspend Strike

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has called off its 9-day old strike .
The resident doctors reached the decision to end the strike at a virtual National Executive Council (NEC) meeting which ended late Saturday evening.

The President of NARD, Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi who spoke to THISDAY on the telephone said the association has resolved to resume work following positive consideration of the Memorandum of Agreement reached with the federal government at their meeting on Friday.

He said that the association had directed it’s members to resume work by 8 am (today) Sunday.
Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige has also confirmed the suspension of the resident doctors’ strike.

Ngige who spoke to THISDAY Saturday night said that NARD has called off its industrial action.
He said that the leadership of NARD had formally notified him of its resolution to suspend the strike after “10 hours of meeting on Saturday”.
At the time of filing this report, NARD leadership was still drafting details of the communiqué for submission to the government.

As part of the Memorandum of Agreement reached with the federal government at the conciliation meeting on Friday, the government agreed to set up a committee to regularize payment of Resident Doctors by removing the irregularities encountered in the process.

The agreement which addressed all the immediate concerns of the resident doctors gave the NARD leadership the opportunity to consult with members on Saturday before taking a decision to call off the strike.

The agreement also stated no member of NARD was to be punished for taking part in the strike.
Ngige, who explained the outcome of the meeting between the representatives of the federal government and the resident doctors said the meeting agreed to set up the committee after observing that “the payment of the House Officers’ salaries experienced some irregularities as double payments were made to some officers in some centres, while a few have not been paid as of date.”

Ngige said the five-man committee was given 72 hours from Saturday, 10th April to produce a valid list of names of House Officers to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), through the Federal Ministry of Health.

The committee members were drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), IPPIS, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), NARD, Committee of Chief Medical Directors (CCMDs).
Ngige expressed the hope that with this and other understandings reached, NARD would give “this conciliation process a chance for industrial peace by calling off the strike embarked on 1st April 2021.”

On the issue of abolishment of Bench fees, the Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) are to waive this payment and that the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Health will issue a circular to this effect and send a memorandum on this for ratification at the National Council of Health (NCH) whenever it is convened.

Regarding the non-payment of national minimum wage consequential adjustment arrears and salary shortfall in 2014 – 2016 for resident doctors, the meeting agreed that the CCMDs should immediately submit a list of affected institutions and personnel strength in order for it to be captured in the 2021 Supplementary Budget.
It stated that the arrears should be from April 2019 to December 2019.

Also on the issue of residency training allowance it was resolved that 1003 doctors not paid would be captured in the 2021 Supplementary Budget while those wrongly paid would be requested to refund the same.
The meeting noted that the issue of hazard allowance was not peculiar to NARD but cut across the entire health sector and its workforce .

The minister further disclosed that the government was in the process of working out a better hazard allowance arrangement for all health workers in Nigeria.
According to him, in consonance with an agreement signed in July last year to review that allowance, the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS) had been on it all the while.

To this end, PCS would meet on Monday, 12th April, 2021 with National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to examine the issue, and would meet on Wednesday, 14th April with all the health sector workers – Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and its affiliate, NARD, and Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and its affiliates, the Minister said.

On salary shortfall from 2014 to 2016, the minister stated that it was agreed that NARD and CCMDs should immediately submit a list of affected institutions and personnel strength for it to be captured in the 2021 Supplementary Budget, while the arrears would run from April 2019 to December 2019, as contained in Memorandum of Action 1 (MoA).
The meeting also agreed that NARD would communicate their decision to the Minister for Labour and Employment before 12 noon, 10th April, 2021.