By Asmau Ahmad
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has called on the Federal Government and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to resolve the on-going labour dispute in the interest of Nigerians.
The NMA National President, Dr Uche Ojinmah, made the appeal in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, the avoidable labour dispute has gone on for far too long to the detriment of the common Nigerian citizen.
He added that the NMA, as the umbrella body for all doctors in Nigeria, is the mother association to NARD and hence as a matter of policy must protect and promote her interest.
“We hereby call on our government to quickly conclude measures to resolve all areas of disagreement and eschew all punitive responses in the interest of industrial harmony.
“NMA also calls on NARD to extend a gesture of goodwill towards the government in the interest of our suffering patients and fellow citizens.
“Let us put aside all obstacles (contrived or real) towards speedy resolution of this dispute for the love of the Nation.
“A better Nigeria is a tangible reality if we all do right by this nation”, Ojinmah said.
The resident doctors, on July 26, embarked on indefinite industrial action.
The major demands of the association are immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement and payment of skipping arrears.
Others are upward review of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) in line with full salary restoration to the 2014 value of CONMESS and payment of
the arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum wage to the omitted doctors.
Also demanded was the reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Health, on August 1, implemented ‘No work, No pay’ policy.
