By Cynthia Oyinatumba
The Forum of Chairmen of Health Institutions in Nigeria (FCHIN) has described the ongoing strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) as insensitive.
The group said that considering its findings the Federal Government has substantially met the demands of doctors, as well as taking steps to reposition the health sector, saying that the strike does not speak well of the profession whose practitioners swore an oath to save lives.
The Chairman of the Forum, Dr Sam Jaja, who led the leadership of the forum to a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige at the weekend in Abuja, said that the forum chose a four- pronged approach to resolve the dispute, and frowned at the frequent resort to strike by doctors.
“The Committee of Chief Medical Directors (CMDS) briefed us and it is just exactly what you have narrated. All hope was that the meeting of last week where all the affiliates of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) except NARD signed the MOU would resolve the strike. We feel so concerned the strike hasn’t been called off.
“Strike should be the last resort when every other effort has been exhausted in terms of finding solution to whatever the problem is. But for any little thing, you resort to disruption of services; it does not portray the country in good light. It doesn’t also portray the profession in good light, most especially such profession that has to do with the preservation of human lives.
“It makes them (doctors) insensitive and that is not right. For whatever reason, I think we should nip it in the bud. That is what we as a Forum of Chairmen of Health Institutions of Nigeria are in for. We need to find solution to this. It is not good for us and it is not good for them. I bet that as you are solving this problem, others are warm- ing up to start theirs. We can’t allow them to continue. We must find a permanent solution,” Jaja said.
In his response, the Senator Ngige again faulted the ongoing strike, describing it as unjustifiable and unwarranted, even as he said that the implementation of the MoU signed on August 21 with doctors was on course.
He said that the government has adopted a holistic approach to tackling the challenges in the health sector, not- ing that some of the issues in contention cut across sectors, adding that the government has bent backwards to improve the ease of practice of medicine in the country despite dwindling resources.
“The resident doctors are on the scheme of service against which obtained earlier. There was nothing like that we started practice. Nigeria is also about the only country that has the Medical Residency Training Fund, backed up by an act, Medical Residency Training Act, passed into law by this administration in 2018. N4.8 bil- lion is already in 2021 Service Wide Vote for this – to cover exam fees, books, travel to exam centres and accommodation. We are battling to meet up the timeline on this.
“As a matter of fact, the Residency Training Fund for 2021 is a borrowed fund. It is part of the deficit budget funded by the World Bank and IMF.
“Now that the president has signed the law governing it, with signatures appended, we can access this fund through the CBN and from there to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget Office and to the Accountant General of the Federation. But it is not what you achieve in a day. It takes sometime, but these young doctors will hear none of that.
“Take the issue of hazard allowance. It was even the Federal Government who noticed the paltry sum doctors and health workers receive and said no during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic last year. Considering the dangers they face, government took the bull by the horn, approved and released a jumbo, the sum of N32 billion as hazard allowance,” Ngige explained.