The federal government of Nigeria has threatened to replace striking resident doctors with ad-hoc staff.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed this in an interview on Channels Television.
Recall that the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on a five-day warning strike, on Wednesday, over unmet demands.
The resident doctors, among other things, are demanding increments in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salary of doctors.
They also demand new allowances included in its letter to the Minister of Health on July 7, 2022, on the review of CONMESS; payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund; payment of salary arrears, and consequential adjustment of the minimum wage.
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According to Ngige, the striking resident doctors were crying wolf.
He also said the NARD was disrespectful to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), which was already negotiating with the government on its behalf.
“The resident doctors are part of NMA. They are young doctors in training. So if the NMA is negotiating on their behalf as the parent body, what these young people (resident doctors) are doing is disrespecting the NMA. They are crying wolf when there is none,” he said.
Meanwhile, the five-day warning strike has disrupted health services across health facilities in the country.
It was gathered that there was total compliance to the strike by members of NARD.
