Resident Doctors Suspend Strike After New Agreement With FG

Resident Doctors Suspend Strike After New Agreement With FG.
Two key demands met while five await action in four weeks.
NARD warns strike will resume if government fails to meet conditions.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has suspended its nationwide strike, bringing an end to twenty-nine days of disrupted healthcare services across the country.

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the decision followed an Extraordinary National Executive Council meeting held on Saturday, where members reviewed the outcome of negotiations with the Federal Government. The Secretary General of the association, Shuaibu Ibrahim, confirmed the suspension in a telephone interview with Punch.

The industrial action, which began on November 1, saw about 11,000 resident doctors across 91 teaching hospitals withdraw their services. Hospitals nationwide were forced to scale down operations as the doctors protested poor working conditions, unpaid allowances, and delayed implementation of key welfare agreements.

Ibrahim said the strike suspension came after the association signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the government covering seven major demands. These include reinstating the Lokoja doctors, releasing the Professional Allowance Table, payment of promotion arrears, clearing salary arrears in affected hospitals, implementing upgrades for doctors who passed Part I exams, enforcing the specialist allowance, and resolving issues around membership certificates.

He noted that two of the seven demands have already been met. “The Professional Allowance Table has been released, and a directive has been issued to the Head of Service that the entry level for doctors should be CONMESS 3. So, the strike has been suspended immediately,” he said.

Ibrahim warned that the association would resume the strike if the government fails to deliver on the remaining five conditions within the agreed four week timeline.