The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its nationwide indefinite strike after 29 days of industrial action.
The suspension followed deliberations at an Extraordinary National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Saturday.
NARD’s Secretary-General, Dr. Shuaibu Ibrahim, confirmed the development in a telephone interview.
Health services were significantly disrupted across the country during the strike, as about 11,000 resident doctors in 91 teaching hospitals withdrew their services over poor working conditions and unpaid allowances.
Ibrahim said the decision to suspend the strike was reached after the association signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government on seven key demands.
He listed the demands to include the reinstatement of the Lokoja doctors, release of the Professional Allowance Table, payment of promotion arrears, settlement of salary arrears in some facilities, implementation of an upgrade for doctors who passed Part I examinations and met entry requirements, implementation of the specialist allowance, and resolution of the Membership Certificate issue.
“The strike was suspended following the Memorandum of Understanding we signed with the Federal Government regarding the seven conditions we set before suspending the action,” he said.
According to him, two of the demands have already been met, while the remaining five are expected to be addressed within four weeks as contained in the MoU.
“The Professional Allowance Table has been released, and a directive has been issued to the Head of Service that the entry level for doctors should be CONMESS 3. So, the strike has been suspended immediately,” he added.
He, however, warned that NARD would not hesitate to resume the strike should the government fail to meet the outstanding demands within the agreed timeframe.
“If the remaining demands are not met before the agreed timeline, we will resume the strike,” he said.
