Doctors reveal reason for upcoming strike, blames Nigerian govt for inadequate manpower

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) bemoaned the Federal Government’s failure to meet many of the requests that prompted them to go on a warning strike earlier in the year after deciding to go on an indefinite strike on Tuesday.

This was disclosed on Wednesday by Dr. Innocent Orji, President of NARD, during an interview on ChannelsTV, Sunrise Daily.

One of these demands, according to Dr. Orji, is the replacement of doctors who have departed for better opportunities abroad. He claimed that despite the government’s promise to act fast on this demand, months after the Memorandum of Understanding was signed, nothing has been done.

Read Also: OAUTH doctors begin 14-day warning strike over unpaid salaries

“One of the most important requests that we made is for government to release the circular on a one-for-one replacement because our hospitals are depleting. We have been singing this like a song since last year.

“Government on its own set up a committee that came up with a guideline on how to quickly replace those who have left the system. In the MoU we signed in May, they said that on or before June that circular will be released, and our members are dying because they are overworked.

“They are breaking down; we lost a doctor last week. It has now become a weekly event that you wake up and hear that a doctor has died and it is because of stress,” Orji said.

The recent strike comes after the association on July 5 issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government for the implementation of all its demands.

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