It is immoral, insensitive and sheer wickedness to allow the poor suffer ensuing from the industrial action embarked upon by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Bishop Dr. Onuoha has said.

NARD had last Monday, began a nationwide industrial action over unpaid salaries, benefits to families of members that lost their lives to COVID-19 pandemic and hazard allowances, improved conditions, and failure to domesticate Medical Residency Training (MRT) Act 2017 in states, among other grievances.

Speaking to newsmen in Umuahia, the President Vision Africa International and Co-chair Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha, acknowledged that embarking on industrial action may not be wrong especially when it is done to press for one's constitutional and legal right, but decried that it is insensitivity if ill-timed.

The Methodist Bishop said considering the role Resident Doctors play in the Nigerian society, allowing the strike linger may spell doom for the poor who cannot afford the cost of private hospitals due to the harsh economic realities on ground.

He called on the Federal Government to go to the negotiation table with representatives of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and find a better way of resolving the issues raised by the striking doctors, stressing that when two elephants fight, the grass suffers, revealing that in this present circumstance, the poor are already passing through hell in a bid to take care of their health challenges.

The Global Peace Award Winner 2013, who emphasised the importance of payment of salaries and other emoluments to workers as stressed in the scripture, urged the Federal Government to engage the health workers in meaningful discussion and relegate to the background, the threats of no work no pay, noting that their grievances may be germane.

He equally advised the striking doctors to also consider the health of many Nigerians affected by the strike, admonishing them to find a common ground with the Federal Government's negotiation team headed by the Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige.