The resident doctors in Nigeria have given the Federal Government an ultimatum to meet their agreement.
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors President, Dr Godiya Ishaya, said this in Abuja on Monday.
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According to a report obtained from PUNCH Healthwise, the NARD claimed that all the agreement that led to the suspension of the 64-day old strike have not been met.
Hence, a court hearing between the association and Federal Government shall hold on November 3.
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Some of the agreement included:
1. Withdrawal of the court case against the association by the Federal Government.
2. Payment of Outstanding Salaries.
3. Payment of MRT.
Dr Ishaya said that if the Federal Government fails to meet their required terms and agreement, they shall commence another industrial action.
He said, “The agreement we signed in the Memoranda of Understanding was that we call off our strike and then they would withdraw the court case, pay our outstanding salaries and also pay the MRT.
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“As at today, the Federal Government has failed to withdraw the court case. We have been notified that our hearing is on November 3. Our salaries have also not been paid. How can we move forward if they fail to do these things? Some of our members didn’t want us to call off the strike initially because they felt the government won’t honour their side of the agreement. See what is happening now.
“For the MRT, they will recommence the payment tomorrow, remember we told you they debited those that they paid earlier, they will start the payment again tomorrow.
“We are giving them till November 3, which is the day of the court hearing. If they fail to withdraw the case then we will know their position.”
Recall that barely 20 days ago, NARD resumed work after a long 64-day-old strike.
Dr Godiya stated during a chat with pressmen that the situation would be reviewed in six weeks.
His words:
“All our chapters have resumed today (Oct 7). We are not giving a timeline to the Federal Government to attend to our demands. In six weeks’ time, we will review the progress of our engagement with them. The engagement is a continuous process. We are meeting with the Ministry of Labour and Employment today (Tuesday) to sort out the issue of the case at the Industrial Court and the ‘no work, no pay order’ issued by the Minister, Dr Chris Ngige.”
