President Bola Tinubu on Monday ordered the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfareto ensure that members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors(NARD) who are on strike resume work immediately.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, disclosed Tinubu’s directive while addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja, following the total and indefinite strike declared by NARD on Saturday.
“I would like to update Nigerians on the challenges around the ongoing strike action by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors. First, on behalf of myself and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, and all the top management staff of the ministry, we would like to express our regrets and unconditional apology to Nigerians, especially those who needed to access health care in the last 48 hours, who could not do it as a result of the strike action by NARD.
“I want to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that Mr President has expressly directed that we do everything possible and legitimate to ensure that the resident doctors are brought back to their duty posts as soon as possible, ” Salako said.
The minister, who explained that the government had been engaging the leadership of NARD to resolve the issues behind their industrial action, also revealed that the striking doctors had presented 19 separate demands, which the ministry was addressing one after another.
While providing background on the dispute, the minister recalled that a circular issued by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) in July had caused division among health sector workers.
Some groups in the health sector, according to salako, protested against the contents of the circular, while others welcomed it.
According to him, the ministry sought a review because it did not accommodate the interests of all health professionals.
“We approached the National Salaries and Wages Commission and the Presidential Committee on Salary Increase, and the circular was therefore withdrawn,” Salako stated, just as alsa noted that a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) process was initiated in August to unify discussions across all health sector unions, including the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), and the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).
“Between August and now, we have had 12 meetings of the CBA. But in the course of that CBA meeting, two issues came out that were very controversial,” Salako said, just as he also added one of the disputes was between groups advocating relativity in remuneration and others insisting on parity, both of which he described as mutually exclusive.
“You cannot talk about parity in one breath as government, and also talk about relativity in another breath as government. They are mutually exclusive. And we felt that it was important to come back home to resolve that issue,” he stated.
The second contentious issue, according to the minister, was the appointment of some non-doctor health workers as consultants in 2020, which caused discontent among doctors.
“For us, we felt that it was an issue that we had to come and discuss in-house to resolve, and that is what led to a temporary suspension of the CBA.
“The ministry engaged an external consultant, a professor of industrial relations, to serve as a negotiator on these two critical issues and other matters that may arise during discussions with the health unions.
“That negotiator has met the three health unions, has submitted an interim report. We have met again with all the unions combined in the presence of the negotiator to further discuss, and the government is trying to put together a recommendation to the CBA on these two issues. That is why the CBA was temporarily halted. It was in the course of that suspension that NARD issued its ultimatum,” the minister emphasized.
Salako added that despite the CBA rule against industrial action while negotiations are ongoing, several meetings had been held to address the doctors’ concerns.
“Ideally, one of the key requirements of the CBA is that while it is ongoing, there should be no declaration of industrial disputes. But despite that, we met with NARD. I met with them twice last week.
“The Minister of Finance, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, and the Minister of State for Finance have also met with them to try and address all the 19-point issues they raised. Today, I can tell you that most of those issues are being addressed,” he said.
