Some resident doctors in Bayelsa state have joined their counterparts to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike. The resident doctors of two teaching hospitals in the state said they are complying with the directive issued by the leadership of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD). President of NARD at the Federal Medical Centre (FCM), in Yenogoa Dr. Divine Irole, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that members of the association totally complied with the directives and are awaiting further instructions from the national leadership of the union. According to Dr. Irole, They have withdrawn their services in compliance with a directive from the national leadership.
He said feedback from their monitoring team indicates that compliance to the directive is 100 percent. Though they have downed their tools a few consultants are providing skeletal services.
“A lot of patients have already been discharged. The truth is that bulk of the work in the health sector is done predominantly by resident doctors.
”We do not see the action of the consultants as sabotage. They are not on strike”.
Recall that members of NARD unanimously agreed to embark on an indefinite strike on Monday over the Federal Government’s failure to honour and implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with them after over 100 days.
The doctors reached the decision following their National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Umuahia, Abia state by over 50 members across the country.
“We are embarking on a total and indefinite strike on August 2, 2021 [Monday]. You can recall we had a memorandum of action on March 31, 2021, and had an addendum to it on April 9, and since then, we still have had irregularities in the payment of salaries to the house officers,” the doctors said.
