Resident Doctors Call off National Strike

National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, has agreed to suspend its strike at a meeting with other health sector stakeholders following a meeting. The end of the Strike comes a day after they were said to be sacked by the Federal government.

This decision was reached during a meeting between resident doctors and other stakeholders, organised by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogàra in Abuja. They appealed to resident doctors across the country to suspend the strike until the next meeting scheduled for July 14.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole had directed Chief Medical Directors, CMDs, and medical directors, MDs, of federal government tertiary health institutions to fill the vacancies created by resident doctors who have “abandoned” their training programme according to Vanguard reports.

Spokesperson of the ministry, Boade Akinola, said the directive was contained in a circular signed by Amina Shamaki, permanent secretary of the ministry. Read Details Here

This precedent was set by former President Goodluck Jonathan who sacked 16,000 resident doctors in 2014 for participating in a nationwide strike, although they were recalled two weeks later.