Kaduna Resident Doctors Halt Strike Action

The Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in Kaduna’s National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has chosen to discontinue its six-day warning strike.
In a statement released in Kaduna on Monday, Dr. Josiah Yakubu, the chapter’s president, confirmed the development.
In addition to a number of discussions and interventions, including from the national and state leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association, Yakubu clarified that the suspension was the consequence of an emergency congress that was convened on Saturday.

The hospital’s other resident doctors will return by 10:00 a.m., he said, and work would resume at the hospital on Tuesday at 8:00 a.m.

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Yakubu added that the congress had determined that the Secretary to the State Government had stepped in to arbitrate on behalf of the state government ever since their industrial action began.
At the request of the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, he said, the NMA leadership had a follow-up meeting.

This was different from our first gathering, when some of our members were regrettably sent letters terminating their positions as resident physicians.

A notice that their appointments will be terminated was included in warning letters sent to certain others.

“We now realize that the management of Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital took the action on their own,” he stated.

The two-hour-long conversation with the medical association, according to Yakubu, allowed all sides to understand the difficulties at hand.

According to him, “They emphasized the potential ways to resolve the industrial discord in a friendly manner.

“This was done in a way that preserves the quality of healthcare services provided by the state and does not undervalue the doctors.”

The state government, according to Yakubu, has committed to resolving the doctors’ demands and concerns and has accepted and acknowledged their validity.

The secretary to the state government, he continued, “applied for a two-month period so that the government could practically initiate and resolve these issues of manpower and the compensation of doctors in the state as demanded.”

For the Governor’s consideration, a cost implication of the switch from CONMESS 2014 to CONMESS 2024 had been prepared and sent to the SSG.

The SSG, Chairman of NMA Kaduna State, NARD President, President of ARD Kaduna, and President of ARD BDTH co-signed a mutually negotiated Memorandum of Understanding to this effect.

“The conclusion of the meeting was the expectation that these developments would be reported to the ARD Kaduna and ARD BDTH congress for review.”

Yakubu added that NARD and NMA leadership had promised to thoroughly monitor the entire process till all demands were fulfilled.