JUST-IN: Resident Doctors Suspend 63 Day-old Strike
The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), on Monday, announced the suspension of its 63 day-old strike.
Recall that the resident doctors embarked on a nationwide indefinite strike since August 2, 2021 to press home their demands.
The national president of NARD, Dr Godiya Ishaya, who disclosed this in a press statement made available to LEADERSHIP, said the striking doctors will officially resume work on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 by 8:00am.
shaya said the decision to suspend the strike was reached after a thorough review of the progress they have made on their demands.
He said, “We met on the 1st of October, 2021 but went on recess for the National Executive Council (NEC) members to go back to their various congresses and have a robust discussion of what we have been able to push through and resume. So having considered them and see the position of the various congress, we decided to suspend the strike officially, starting from the 6th of October at 8:00 am. That was the position that was taken.
“We decided to officially resume on Wednesday considering the fact that some of our members who travelled had to come back and with the insecurity in the country people are afraid to travel at night.
“So to give them time to travel in the daytime and relay the information that we have suspended the strike, we decided it should be on Wednesday. Again, we were also trying to avoid some of them having problems with their immediate supervisors.”
Asked if all their demands have been met, Ishaya explained that not all their demands have been met, saying that, “That is why we say suspension because when we looked at the demands, there were points that have actually been significantly addressed and there were some that have been stalemated because the government was invoking the trade dispute act on us and those part that the government were invoking the trade dispute act which says that ‘you shouldn’t pay any remuneration to any employee who has engaged in any form of lockout or strike.”
The NARD president disclosed that some of the minimal demands were difficult to achieve with the enforcement of ‘no work, no pay,’ adding that, “One of those was the fact we demanded that some of our members should be enrolled into IPPIs and their arrears of four to six months now be paid to them.
“The government said they have enrolled them but they are not able to pay-rolled them because we are on strike. So they assumed a position that they cannot pay-rolled them because we are on strike and without being pay-rolled they cannot get their arrears.”
Ishaya said the government insisted that since their migration to IPPIS, they have not received any salary to verify if they are really the owners of those accounts.
“So we have to give a window so that their salaries will be paid in other to identify their accounts and their arrears will also be pushed into those accounts,” he explained.
Credit: Leadership