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Nigerian Health Minister Blows Hot Over Doctor’s Strike

NIGERIAN Minister Osagie Ehanire has said the current strike by members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is a big mistake.

He urged the striking doctors to return to work today.

Addressing reporters yesterday in Abuja, the minister said the strike portrayed the doctors in bad light, especially as the country struggles to check the third wave and the Delta strain of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ehanire said innocent Nigerians should not be put at risk because of money-related issues, especially as efforts were being made to address them.

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The minister said the doctors should not work at cross purposes with the government and defeat each other’s efforts at providing effective healthcare for Nigerians.

Ehanire, who said the briefing was held to disabuse the minds of Nigerians on the strike, added that most of the issues about the strike concerned states and not the Federal Government.

The minister said the strike shocked the government because efforts to address the doctors’ demands were ongoing and called for dialogue to resolve the matter.

The issues for states to address, he said, include the salary arrears owed resident doctors in state hospitals; domestication of Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) by state governments; speedy release of MRTA-approved funds by states; Minimum Wage-Adjusted CONMESS 2019; payment of COVID-19 inducement allowance by states; accreditation of unaccredited departments in states’ training institutions; and central posting of house officers in states’ institutions.

On the doctors’ demand for hazard allowance, he said the Federal Government had set aside a lump sum for payment to its health workers.

According to him, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the umbrella body, is negotiating on behalf of medical doctors, while JOHESU, the umbrella body of other health professionals, is negotiating on their behalf.

He said as soon as both representatives agree with each other, it will be resolved and the payment of hazard allowance implemented.

“NARD is advised to work with the NMA to sort out the delay in payment, rather than blame the government,” he said.

Also, the Federal Ministry of Health has directed house officers undergoing training in hospitals across the nation not to join the NARD strike.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunmimbe Mamora, gave the directive yesterday at a media briefing in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that NARD embarked on an indefinite nationwide industrial action on Monday.

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“You will recall that we had a memorandum of action on March 31 and had an addendum to it on April 9, 2021.

“But since then, we still have had irregularities in the payment of salaries to the house officers.

“We had issues with them being non-regular payment and as part of the memorandum of action, it was said that they should be captured back into the IPPIS platform,” the minister said.

NARD, in its communiqué announcing the industrial action, had said house officers were owed 12 months’ salaries.

Mamora said: “House officers are undergoing training; they are not full-fledged doctors. They are not and should not go on strike.”

According to him, house officers work generically across General Surgery, Orthopaedics, Plastic Surgery, and General Medicine and Medical Specialties.

He added that they also worked in their designated services wherever possible and were also attached to consultants.

The Director of Hospital Services in the ministry, Dr. Adebimpe Adebiyi, explained that the communiqué issued by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) concerning house officers was not a threat.

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