By Tosin Olatokunbo
Nigerians can now heave a sigh of relief following the decision of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD to suspend its two months old strike.
The doctors who have abandoned their work for two months said they start attending to patients from Wednesday.
The strike action started on August 2, and had dragged despite appeals by well meaning Nigerians including the federal government to the angry doctors to end the strike.
Last month, the National Industrial Court, presided over by Justice Bashar Alkali ordered the doctors to shelve the strike so save the lives of many Nigerians, noting that the strike will affect efforts to combat the COVID 19 pandemic. The doctors refused, insisting that their demands must be met.
Sources informed the magazine that relations of sick persons had been forced to either take their patients to private hospitals or back home to receive treatment.
Unconfirmed sources said many have died in public hospitals due to the doctor’s strike.
The court held that there is no amount of money that will compensate for the loss of lives in the circumstances.
But speaking on Monday, NARD President, Dr Godiya Ishaya disclosed that the strike has been suspended for six weeks to allow for further negotiations with their employer, the federal government.
Godiya said the period will be used to break the current stalemate with the government.
The strike which began on August 2 has been suspended with effect from 8am, Wednesday, according to the President of the association, Dr Godiya Ishaya.
Ishaya, said NARD has noticed that “there was a stalemate in the enrollment of our members into the IPPIS and payment of their areas.
“The government was invoking the trade dispute article 41, that is the ‘no work, no pay.’ And since they have been enrolled into IPPIS, it means there was not going to be any salary into their accounts.
“Without them being paid, they won’t get their areas; that was a stalemate we felt we should give a window to see if the government can start paying them salaries and push their areas into their accounts.
“On the issue of ‘no work, no pay,’ we have not agreed to forfeit our salaries. The strike was unnecessarily prolonged because of the government’s response to the strike. Instead of sitting on the table, the government decided to go to court and that kept prolonging negotiation.”
He said the National Executive Council, NEC of the Association would meet after six weeks to determine the next line of action.
Justice Alkali had in September ordered the doctors to suspend their strike. He also directed all parties to return to the negotiating table.
The judge said the doctors must go back to work, notingt thatthere is no amount of money that will compensate for the loss of lives in the circumstances.
