Moses Ofodeme
The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), the umbrella body of all doctors working in government health facilities, has sent a notice of strike effective Monday, June 15, 2020.
The association said the call to strike also includes doctors attending to COVID-19 patients and other emergencies.
The National President of NARD, Dr Aliyu Sokomba, said this in an official letter with reference number NARD/SG/2019-2020/070620/246.
The NARD President said the strike would be total regardless of the current pandemic.
Sokomba said the action had become necessary due to the failure of the government to redeem its pledges especially in the areas of salary arrears and working conditions.
The letter read in part, “The strike shall, therefore, be total and indefinite. No service of any kind, be it emergency, care at COVID-19 treatment centres shall be exempted and members including all resident doctors, medical officers below the rank of principal medical officer, and house officers are expected to be part of the strike.”
While sympathising with Nigerians and patients as a whole, the doctors said they could no longer condone government neglect.
NARD said the plight of its members in state health facilities was sometimes worse than those at the federal institutions.