Strike: “We Need To Get Something Right” – NARD President

Resident Doctors Commence Indefinite Strike

The meeting between the House of Representatives committee on health services, the Federal Government (FG) and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) ended once again without any agreement on Tuesday.

The two-day public hearing, which was organised by the house committee on health services, started on Monday however it ended in a deadlock on Tuesday.

In attendance

In attendance was President of NARD, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora; Permanent Secretary, Office of the Head of Service, Emmanuel Meribole; Director-General of the Budget of the Federation, Ben Akabueze amongst others.

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Doctors’ experience, salary

While addressing officials at the meeting on Tuesday, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, NARD’s President cited experiences of doctors in hospitals across the country, especially as it related to payment of salaries.

“We need to get something right, and getting something right is when we tell ourselves the truth. Why we are still on strike today is because of the ministry of health, mostly — my apologies to the minister of health. I will say it as it is,” he said.

“We have been honoured that the speaker came to see us and invited us four times. This is the second time we are going on a strike in this year. Why are we having these bottlenecks? Because some people are not doing their jobs.”

However, after about six hours of discussions, Tanko Sununu, chairman of the committee, asked the resident doctors to work with the ministry of health to come up with an agreement reached at the meeting. Okhuaihesuyi insisted that the meeting has not resolved the issues raised by the resident doctors, adding that no agreement has been reached.