Resident doctors agree to end strike as FG sets up committee

The Federal Government has set up a committee to smoothen out the payment of resident doctors by removing the irregularities encountered in the process.

The committee is part of ongoing efforts to resolve the payment dispute between the government and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which led to the ongoing industrial action by the association.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed this at the end of a meeting between the representatives of the federal government and NARD, which is an addendum to the Memorandum of Action reached between the parties on 31st March.

According to Ngige, the meeting agreed to set up the committee after noting “the payment of House Officers’ salaries experienced some irregularities as double payments were made to some officers in some centres, while a few have not been paid as of date.”

Ngige said the five-man committee was given 72 hours from Saturday, 10th April to produce a valid list of names of House Officers to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), through the Federal Ministry of Health.

The committee members were drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), IPPIS, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), NARD, Committee of Chief Medical Directors (CCMDs).

He hoped that with this and other understandings reached, NARD would give “this conciliation process a chance for industrial peace by calling off the strike which commenced on 1st April 2021.”

President of NARD, Dr Okhuaihesuyi Uyilawa, said the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Association would relay the outcome of the meeting to their members “with the hope of calling off the strike tomorrow.