Strike Will Continue Resident Doctors Insist

On Tuesday the Nigeria National Association of Resident Doctors 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 1 October.
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.