The
National Association of Resident Doctors has asked the federal and
state governments to resolve all outstanding issues in the health sector
before September 30 or face an industrial action by its members.
The
newly-elected President of the association, Dr. John Onyebueze,
announced the ultimatum at the end of NARD’s 26th Annual General Meeting
in Enugu.
The resident doctors flayed government at all levels
over what it described as the poor state of health care delivery in the
country.
Onyebueze, who addressed journalists at the end
of the meeting, said the current state of public health care delivery
in the country was ‘pitiable.’
Demanding an immediate
implementation of pending agreements reached between the government and
health workers, he declared that the association “cannot guarantee
industrial harmony in the health sector if this persists beyond the
payment of September salaries.”
Onyebueze said the association
was demanding an immediate upgrade of infrastructure in teaching
hospitals, urgent action against poliomyelitis and Lassa fever, as well
as the immediate release and implementation of the report on the
residency training programme.
He added that the association was
unhappy with the disruption of the structure of the residency programme
by the chief medical directors of teaching hospitals.
Listing the
grievances of the resident doctors, he added, “Are you talking about
the rickety beds in the accident and emergency wards?
“We do not
even have gloves and emergency tools. We do not have pens to write and
make prescriptions. We are saying that this thing must not continue.”
Continuing,
Onyebueze said only the implementation of outstanding agreements would
forestall an industrial action by resident doctors across the country.
“The
Federal Government should expedite action on the release of the bailout
funds for the state tertiary health institutions as agreed earlier.
“The Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, ensure the migration of all our members to the IPPIS platform.
“Centres
that are not deducting pension contributions from our members should
immediately commence, while all centres should ensure full remittance of
deducted contributions of our members to the pension fund
administrators.”
The association said it did not agree with the ‘no work, no pay’ rule canvassed by the government during industrial actions.
“In
line with extant labour laws, we reject in its entirety the ‘no work no
pay’ rule as currently being applied by the Federal Ministry of
Health,” Onyebueze said.
He condemned what he described as the “unjust sacking of doctors.”