President Bola Tinubu has directed the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to ensure that members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors who are on strike resume work immediately.
The directive was disclosed by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, during a press briefing yesrterday in Abuja, following the total and indefinite strike declared by NARD on Saturday.
Speaking at the briefing, Salako said, “I would like to update Nigerians on the challenges around the ongoing strike action by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors. First, on behalf of myself and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, and all the top management staff of the ministry, we would like to express our regrets and unconditional apology to Nigerians, especially those who needed to access health care in the last 48 hours, who could not do it as a result of the strike action by NARD.
“I want to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that Mr President has expressly directed that we do everything possible and legitimate to ensure that the resident doctors are brought back to their duty posts as soon as possible.”
The minister explained that the government had been engaging the leadership of NARD to resolve the issues behind their industrial action.
Salako revealed that the striking doctors had presented 19 separate demands, which the ministry was addressing one after another.
He provided background on the dispute, recalling that a circular issued by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) in July had caused division among health sector workers.
According to him, some groups in the health sector protested against the contents of the circular, while others welcomed it.
The ministry, he said, sought a review because it did not accommodate the interests of all health professionals.
“We approached the National Salaries and Wages Commission and the Presidential Committee on Salary Increase, and the circular was therefore withdrawn,” Salako stated.
He noted that a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) process was initiated in August to unify discussions across all health sector unions, including the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), and the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).
“Between August and now, we have had 12 meetings of the CBA. But in the course of that CBA meeting, two issues came out that were very controversial,” he said.
According to the minister, one of the disputes was between groups advocating relativity in remuneration and others insisting on parity, both of which he described as mutually exclusive.
“You cannot talk about parity in one breath as government, and also talk about relativity in another breath as government. They are mutually exclusive. And we felt that it was important to come back home to resolve that issue,” he stated.
The second contentious issue, he said, was the appointment of some non-doctor health workers as consultants in 2020, which caused discontent among doctors.
“For us, we felt that it was an issue that we had to come and discuss in-house to resolve, and that is what led to a temporary suspension of the CBA.
“The ministry engaged an external consultant, a professor of industrial relations, to serve as a negotiator on these two critical issues and other matters that may arise during discussions with the health unions.
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