Abuja – The National Association of
Resident Doctors (NARD) on Tuesday
said it would continue its indefinite
strike until its demands were met by
the Federal Government. The President of the association, Dr
Jibril Abdullahi, said this in Abuja
when he briefed newsmen on the
outcome of its National Executive
Council (NEC) meeting on Monday. The meeting reviewed the ongoing
nationwide strike by the association
which commenced on Oct. 1. Abdullahi said that NEC, at the end of
the meeting, demanded the immediate
payment of outstanding salaries and
allowances of its members. He said NEC also demanded the release
and implementation of the
stakeholders’ agreement on residency
training programme. “We are not unmindful of the financial
doldrums the country is facing. If you
bring forth the document, we will sit
down and look at the financial
implication and we discuss. “On the average, we spend
N120billion annually on medical
tourism. This is a colossal drain on the
economy and you cannot reduce this
until you strategise and develop the
health care system. “You can do that when you train the
doctors and other health workers very
well”, he said. He said that the blueprint for residency
training would help to avoid
misunderstanding at different levels of
implementation. According to him, it will also help in
minimising acrimony and industrial
disharmony between resident doctors
and hospitals management. The doctors went on strike over the
non-payment of arrears of salaries of
some doctors for over four months by
the Integrated Personnel and Payroll
Information System (IPPIS). They are also demanding the training
and retraining of resident doctors. Abdullahi said the NEC also gave the
Federal Government a four-week
ultimatum to investigate alleged
victimisation of its members at the
Federal Medical Centre, Owerri. He said the NEC also demanded the
implementation of the Consolidated
Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) at
the Enugu State University Teaching
Hospital www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/going-back-strike-resident-doctors/