Resident Doctors Insist on Nationwide Strike

National president of NARD, Dr. Jubril AbdullahiBlame government for incessant strikePaul Obi in AbujaThe National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) yesterday insisted on going on with its warning strike following the alleged failure of the government to adhere to previous agreements reached with the union.

The national president of NARD, Dr. Jubril Abdullahi, told THISDAY that “the strike would continue until tomorrow, nothing has changed, we continue with the strike until that day.”Abdullahi informed THISDAY that the association had become wary of going back and forth with government on its responsibility to meet the demands of NARD.

This came as the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) said government should be blamed for the incessant cases of strike in public hospitals in Nigeria.

MDCAN President, Steve Oluwole, stated that the nationwide warning strike which entered day three today was unwarranted if government kept to its promises.“Strike actions by the resident doctors often provoke emotions and spontaneous reactions, which prevent an in-depth analysis of the underlying problems and issues. Most resident doctors are individuals in their late twenties and early thirties. They work very loaded schedules, undergo strenuous training, and prepare for rigorous postgraduate examinations in hospital environments where non-clinical staff also work.“It is difficult to argue that resident doctors should look away from the remunerations of support staff, when andif such staff have better deals than them.

While issues ofrelativity of remunerations provoke negative emotions outside of the hospital, it is central to equity and justice to ensure that those who discharge the primary functions of the hospital are not paid less than support staff.

The Federal Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour and Productivity should avoid political decisions, agreements, or memoranda that are designed just to make a striking group suspend its strike, when it is obvious  that such agreements are not implementable, or will conflict with previous agreementswith other groups. The two Ministries should harmonise positions to put an end to the cycles of strikes over the same issues,” he added.Oluwole said: “The teaching hospitals and many tertiary medical centres are designed to function with resident doctors working with their consultants. Any expectationthat it will be business as usual without them attending to their duties is deceptive. This is not to glamorise the roles of resident doctors, but simply to acknowledge it.”He pledged MDCAN’s committment to uninterrupted services in the hospitals, stressing that the confidence of patients in health care delivery could not be sustained  in the  midst of  industrial actions.Meanwhile, patients at the National Hospital, Abuja, had complained of ineffective services rendered at the hospital in the past two days.

One of the patients at the hospital, Abraham Olaoluwa, who spoke with our THISDAY on the effects of the strikesaid the strike had weakened services at the hospital.

The strike came days after MDCAN, said the Nigerian public might lose confidence in the nation’s public hospitals as a result of constant strikes by the health workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).

Olaoluwa said though consultant doctors were on ground to attend to patients at the hospital, the number of the caregivers on ground was far less than the population of patients who sought care at the hospital.His words: “I actually heard the news that the resident doctors would be going on strike. I knew there would beconsultant doctors here. But, the population I met here was more than what I had imagined. It takes so long for the consultants to attend to us because of the number of people on ground,” he said.

Public Relations officer of the hospital, Mr. Tayo Hastrupp, told journalists that “we are coping; there is no much challenge at the hospital. The consultants are working; the pharmacists are working; the nurses and other health professionals at the hospital are working. We are not discharging any patient over the strike by theresident doctors. It is just that we are not attending to asmany patients as we ought to. We are working hard to cope with the situation.

”Resident doctors embarked on the strike to compel government to fulfil all agreements it has with them.