Prolonged strike connotes irresponsibility on the side of government – resident doctors

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has disclosed that the prolongation of the strike its members embarked on is a sign of irresponsibility on the side of the Nigerian government. Dr. Lawal Ismail Akinlade, Immediate Past National President, Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) stated this in an exclusive interview with HealthNewsNG.com.

“Sincerely speaking, continuation of the strike is just a sign of irresponsibility on the side of the government,” he said. He added that the demands of the association could be met within a short period of time.

He said the government has done nothing that could make the association to consider calling off the strike action.

He said: What has the government done that they believe that doctors should go back to call off the strike? They’ve not paid people’s salaries, they’ve not resolved the issue of residency training; they’ve resolved the issues in Enugu and Owerri. They’ve not addressed any of the issues to an extent that NARD will say the government has done its own part and the strike should be called off.”

“Let me tell you those issues in contention. Paying our people’s salaries is number one. Government is saying that people should work for up to 5 months without getting paid for it. Will the issue of salaries and arrears take the government about 4 months to resolve? It’s just the people in charge are not ready to help the masses,” he told HealthNewsNG.com.

He added the association cannot call of the strike based on just the promises made by the government which according to him had failed to fulfill previous promises earlier made with NARD.

He said: “When I was president, we had a meeting with the honorable minister in May last year and we had an agreement on some issues.”

“We’ve had meetings and agreements; we’ve had MoU signed. We have the communiqué released at the end of the meeting which they first denied its existence but we had to show them photographs before they could come to accept we had the agreement. That is the level it has degenerated to.”

He added that the association is not just fighting for the salaries and allowances of its members but is also fighting for the nation’s health sector.

“What we are fighting for is for our people, for Nigeria. Let us train specialists, let us train and train them well so that at the end of the day, we can access good and standard healthcare in Nigeria. If all the things are done which I think it shouldn’t take government 2 weeks to resolve, it is just a mere misplacement of priority,” he told HealthNewsNG.com.