Resident doctors declare indefinite strike

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has declared an indefinite strike action over shortfall in salary, among others demands.

A statement president Dr by NARD Onyebueze John stated that the strike option was taken at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja yesterday.

Onyebueze said after due deliberation, it was resolved that the association would reject any promissory offer from the federal government, adding that resident doctors would proceed on total and indefinite strike until all items in their demand list to the government were met.

“The executive members of the resident doctors had attended a meeting chaired by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, and his Labour counterpart, Dr Chris Ngige on Thursday, where they jointly signed a memorandum of settlement on their demands which centred on salary shortfall, circularisation and host of others,” he said.

Onyebueze noted that the federal government and resident doctors’ meeting also agreed to reconvene on November 2, 2017, to appraise the issues.

“But with an indefinite strike today by the doctors, [it] means that government has to return to the negotiation table, while it is still battling to resolve the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU),” he said.