THE National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, at exactly noon yesterday, made good its threat as members complied with the indefinite strike order issued by the National Executive Council, NEC, on Tuesday night.
NARD embarked on the strike, despite the intervention of speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, who met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday night, urging him to wade into the matter, with a view to addressing the issues at stake.
Although the Federal Government said it was already looking into the demands of the striking resident doctors towards effecting a speedy resolution, NARD said the government was yet to call them for a meeting, insisting that government’s response would determine how long the strike would last.
As of 12:30 pm when Vanguard visited some of the affected tertiary health institutions in Lagos yesterday, the doctors had left their consulting rooms, as only consultants and student doctors were attending to a few patients that were caught unawares by the industrial action.
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However, the effect of the strike cannot be determined at press time as many of the patients who were present at the various hospitals may have been attended to as the strike began at noon yesterday.
While most of the patients who spoke to Vanguard said they had already been attended to before 12 noon, others bemoaned the fact that they were not able to beat the time of the strike and were asked to come back next time.
Confirming the situation at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, the President, Association of Resident Doctors, ARD-LASUTH, Dr Salmon Abeeb, said their members had complied with the directive of the national body.
“We are not working at LASUTH. However, our consultants and the medical students are there working.
“The NARD President is currently in LASUTH. We are hosting the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, programme, so all doctors in Nigeria are in LASUTH.
He said NARD was open for discussion. “In Lagos, we are yet to meet the governor of the state as NARD is open for discussion. We are open to meet with anybody who can assist in getting the issue resolved on time.
“We know the peculiarities and the dangers in the declaration of strike. But, I am sorry that this is the only language government understands.”
Giving an update on the strike in a chat with Vanguard, the National President of NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, said the government was yet to invite them to a meeting.
“We have always said that the issues about which we talk are germane and they can be resolved in a matter of days,” he said.
Orji, who denied report that President Bola Tinubu had begged them not to embark on strike, saying there was no evidence to support that.
He said to call off the strike, the government should at least attend to three of their major demands, including immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund, MRTF, immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement of all the doctors and nurses that have left as a result of brain drain.