Following the failure of the government to meet its demands, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has declared a five-day warning strike from 8am on Wednesday, May 17 to 8am Monday, May 22.
The decision was reached at the NARD’s extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held virtually on Monday.
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The doctors had on April 29, 2023, issued a two-week ultimatum to the federal government to meet their demands or face industrial action. The ultimatum ended on Saturday, May 13, 2023.
NARD president, Dr Emeka Innocent Orji, told journalists that if the government fails to respond to the issues after the five-days warning strike, they will have no choice than to embark on an indefinite strike.
He said, “The update from the meeting is that our members all over the country have given us the mandate to declare a total strike. The strike is starting from Wednesday this week for five days, after which we will review the situation. And if the government is yet to respond to all the issues that we have enumerated, of course no one will blame us if we then come up with an indefinite strike action.”
The doctors demand immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) as well as payment of all their salary arrears.
They demand a 200 percent gross salary increment in addition to the new allowances included in the letter they wrote to the Minister of Health on July 7, 2022 for the review of CONMESS.
NARD also demands immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of MRTA and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done.