Barring any intervention by the Federal Government, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) may likely proceed on a nationwide strike over unresolved welfare issues. In a letter to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the President of NARD, Dr. Emeka Orji, averred that if the issues were not resolved before its January 24-28 National Executive Council meeting, the resident doctors would likely commence a nationwide strike.
According to the association, some of the unresolved issues include the irregularities in the new circular on an upward review of the medical residency training fund, non-payment of outstanding arrears of the new hazard allowance, as well as the non-payment of the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage to some of its members.
Others are salary arrears of its members in State Tertiary Health Institutions running into several months, including Abia, Imo, Ondo, Ekiti and Gombe states, and the non-domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act (MRTA) in most states across the federation. NARD had issued an ultimatum to the Federal Government six months ago over the lingering unresolved issues affecting its members.
The threat by the resident doctors to embark on strike, barely three months after public universities in the country suspended their eight-month industrial action, is disturbing. The doctors had gone on strike from August 2, 2021 to October 4, 2021. Specifically, they went on strike over the non-implementation of the memorandum of agreement they reached with the Federal Government and non-payment of arrears of salaries and allowances to some of their members, as well as non-implementation of life insurance for those treating COVID-19 patients. They had also demanded immediate release of their residency training fund and the placement of their members in the appropriate salary structure.
Before the August strike, the doctors had gone on industrial action in April. In 2020, medical practitioners were on strike three times over demands for allowances for treating COVID-19 patients and increment in basic salary. The strikes led to increased patient mortality and disruption of healthcare services across the country.
We urge the Federal Government to negotiate with the resident doctors and avert the imminent strike in the health sector. The nation’s health care delivery system is already in crisis due to years of neglect, infrastructure collapse and migration of medical professionals abroad. Another strike in the sector will worsen the situation. Due to the migration of Nigerian medical doctors to other countries, Nigeria suffers from insufficient doctors. Its doctor-patient ratio is far below the recommendation of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Statistics from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), last year, showed that at least 5,600 Nigerian medical doctors had migrated to the United Kingdom (UK) since 2015. Between December 2021 and May 2022, a period of six months, 727 medical doctors trained in Nigeria relocated to the UK. Similarly, senior members of the profession, the consultants, are equally involved in the mass movement. According to the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria, nine out of every 10 medical and dental consultants with less than five years of experience plan to leave the country for greener pastures abroad.
Apart from the UK and the US, which serve as the top two destinations for Nigerian medical doctors seeking job opportunities abroad, many are also migrating to Canada, Europe as well as Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman.
Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, recently, disclosed that more than 150 nurses resigned their appointments with the institution within the last three years. The exodus has affected doctor-patient ratio, leaving one doctor to treat estimated 30,000 patients in some Southern states, while in the North, it is one doctor to 45,000 patients.
The nation’s health sector is already stressed. The frequency of strike in the sector is not helping matters. Therefore, the government should attend to the welfare issues of the resident doctors as well as those of other workers in the health sector. Let the government come up with new measures to revamp the sector and stem its brain drain. Any attempt to trifle with the sector will be calamitous.
We call on the government and the resident doctors to explore all avenues to amicably resolve the outstanding welfare issues without resorting to strike. We believe that there is enough time for both parties to settle the matter before contemplating strike. The Federal Government should address the grievances raised by the resident doctors and significantly increase the funding of the health sector.