Patients across the 36 states and Abuja are set to suffer as the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on a strike to demand a pay rise, better welfare and adequate facilities.
More than a third of Nigeria’s 42,000 practising doctors will take part in the indefinite strike as the country struggles to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
When the resident doctors embarked on strike in June this year, NARD exempted doctors treating COVID-19 patients. That strike was suspended a week later.
National President of the association, Aliyu Sokomba, however told the BBC that doctors handling Covid-19 cases would be part of the strike this time, adding that it would not be called off until the government meets their demands.
The doctors want life insurance and death-in-service benefits provided for all health workers and payment of outstanding salaries and allowances, lamenting that 14 doctors had died from Covid-19 since the country reported its first coronavirus cases in March.
Since the beginning of the pandemic doctors have expressed frustrations over pay and a lack of proper protection for those managing Covid-19 patients.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has appealed to the doctors to shelve their strike, noting that it has addressed six out of the eight demands listed by the NARD.
The Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who made the appeal in a statement in Abuja on Monday, urged NARD to respect the country’s laws and suspend its industrial action.
He reminded it that by Labour Laws and ILO Conventions, when issues are being conciliated, all parties are enjoined not to employ arm-twisting methods to intimidate or foist a state of helplessness on the other party.
