NO WORK NO PAY FOR STRIKING DOCTORS IN NIGERIA

Health sector

NIGERIAN FG INSISTS ON NO WORK NO PAY AS DOCTORS CONTINUE STRIKE

■ Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has stated that the Federal Government will enforce the International Labour Organization policy of “No Work, No Pay”, if the doctors serving in the public sector continue their strike action. He stressed that doctors will not be paid from taxpayers’ money for doing nothing.

Ehanire speaking on Thursday, at the Presidential Villa Abuja bemoaned the decision of the doctors to withdraw their services insisting that most of the 12 demands raised by the doctors’ union have been met by the government while the others are under the jurisdiction of states, and not the Federal Government.

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on the countrywide industrial action since August 2, 2021, over alleged poor conditions of service and the inability of the government to meet their demands. The doctors apologized to Nigerians for the decision which they insisted was a result of the government’s insincerity and failure in its responsibilities.

The minister of health revealed that the ministry is having meetings with freshly graduated doctors in the country’s youth corps scheme. Moreover, corps members have began to replace the striking doctors in the Federal Medical Centre in Yola, Adamawa State reports the News Agency of Nigeria. Though the services of the corps members are still skeletal and strictly for emergencies.

The industrial action embarked by the doctors has crippled activities in most of the government-owned health facilities in the country. Recall that the doctors had embarked on industrial action in April leaving many patients unattended but they later suspended it 10 days later following a virtual meeting with members which lasted about 15 hours on April 10.