The Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), has given the Federal Government a 14-day ultimatum to implement all agreements it entered with it or risk what it described as total and indefinite industrial action.
NARD gave the ultimatum at the end of its 2020 Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) with the theme: “Health Inequalities and Social Determinants of Health in Nigeria,” in Bauchi, Saturday.
Reading the communique of the group, the NARD National President, Dr. Sokomba Aliyu, regretted the poor working condition of his members in all states of the country.
NARD noted that some of its members were intimidated, harassed and maltreated in many states including Lagos, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while performing their legitimate and professional duties.
According to the NARD President, some of their members were recently sacked by the authorities of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) at the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also lamented how the Kaduna state government decided, without consultation, to slash the salaries his members by 25 percent, “a development that has brought untold hardship to them and their families.”
The group, therefore, demanded for “the immediate recall of all those sacked by JUTH as well as the full payment of their entitlements and the payment of the slashed salaries by the Kaduna State Government.”
It also called for the supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and other consumables to all health facilities across the country to enable the health workers perform their professional services with adequate and maximum protection.
“We hereby give the government a 14-day ultimatum to meet all of our demands to avoid an indefinite and total strike action by the Resident Doctors across the country,” the group stressed.