“We can’t trust the government,” Resident doctors say as they vow to continue strike

Resident doctors in the country have
maintained their stance on the ongoing
strike after they accused the Federal
Government of being insincere in their
attempts to reach a resolution.

The doctors have said that they will
continue the industrial action until the FG
shows valid intent to meet their demands and
make immediate payment.

The doctors disclosed this through their
umbrella body, the National Association of
Resident Doctors (NARD), in a communiqué
released after an unsuccessful meeting with
representatives of the FG in Abuja.

Nigerian Eye reports:

The communique signed by the association's
president, Dr. Jubril Abdullahi; and the
Acting Secretary-General, Dr. Udu Chijoke
Udu, stated that all efforts to resolve the
crisis had not been fruitful given that
"government grossly fall short of the
articulated demands."

"All salaries and allowances of our members
(House Members and Resident Doctors) must be
paid in full with immediate effect," the
association insisted.

It said, "Government must release and
implement the stakeholders' agreement on
residency training programme of July 5,
2013.

Also there should be elaborate
investigation of alleged victimisation
believed to have been perpetuated against
our members at the Federal Medical Centre,
Owerri, Imo State."

The doctors threatened that the ongoing
indefinite withdrawal of services would be
sustained until the above demands are met by
the government.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Prof.
Onyebuchi Chukwu, has expressed shock at the
position of the resident doctors.

Speaking through his Special Assistant on
Media, Mr. Dan Nwomeh, the minister said all
the salaries and allowances had been paid to
the respective bodies and hospitals.

He said, "It is with shock and disbelief
that resident doctors have followed this
path, government has paid the money to the
respective hospitals and agencies.

The problem is that doctors are insisting on
seeing alerts on their accounts before they
call off the strike."

Reacting to the minister's position,
Abdullahi said the association could no
longer "trust the government" on any
agreement until the problems confronting
resident doctors are explicitly tackled.

This is not the first time we have been
talking; we have met, signed agreements, yet
nothing has changed for more than 40 years
now. They use money to go abroad, what about
the poor who cannot afford to go abroad for
medical attention?" he said.

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