Resident doctors suspend strike, issue fresh deadline

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its indefinite strike commenced 29 days ago.

The decision was reached at an ‘extraordinary’ National Executive Council meeting held on Saturday.

Confirming the development in a statement posted on his X handle Saturday night, NARD President, Muhammad Suleiman, said the strike has been suspended for four weeks.

Suleiman explained that the suspension followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the federal government outlining the status of NARD’s 19-point demands.

He said key outstanding issues such as payment of promotion and salary arrears, implementation of specialist allowance, and the reinstatement of the ‘Lokoja five’, are expected to be completed within two to four weeks.

“The outstanding issues at the stage of implementation are as follows: Promotion Arrears: Compilation hasn’t been completed by CMDs/MDs, and as such, the deadline for payment is in four weeks,” he wrote.

“Salary Arrears: Deadline for payment has been agreed at four weeks; Specialist Allowance: Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) has issued a clear direction on this and NSIWC to take appropriate action with a view to implementation.

“On Lokoja five: The committee report recommended reabsorption back into Federal Teaching Hospital Lokoja, to be fully implemented within two weeks.”

According to Suleiman, NEC in its wisdom reviewed the issues and decided to suspend the strike for four weeks as a gesture of goodwill, allowing time to monitor the implementation of their demands.

“Progress has been made, significantly. This is simply because of the efforts and convictions of NARDites across the country.

“Mistakes have also been made, kindly rest those mistakes solely on my shoulders as President,” he wrote.

He added that the association will use the four-week window to intensify engagement with Nigerians and the government.

The industrial action had left at least 91 healthcare facilities overstretched, as 11,500 resident doctors — who constitute a significant portion of the country’s 56,000 registered medical practitioners — withdrew their services in protest over poor working conditions and delayed entitlements.

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