The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Monday resolved to continue its strike despite the Federal Government’s plea for the professionals to return to work.
The National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja on Friday, ordered the striing doctors to return to work with immediate effect, but NARD said it would appeal the ruling.
In an interview with The Nation on Monday, the association’s president, Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, while accusing the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige of insincerity, expressed disappointment over the stalling of payment of resident doctors’ Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF).
According to him, “Concerning Ngige saying doctors should go back to work if it was him, would he have gone back to work? He is just being wicked.
“For example, in the case of the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), money has already been released to the IPPIS office and they have loaded it into the system, but they put a stop to the payment.
“They wrote to the Ministry of Health asking them to give them the okay to pay the money. N4.8bn was paid to them for the payment of the MRTF for 2021.
“Meanwhile, the one not paid for 2020, they are not even talking about it again. But the money has been released to the budget office.”
He added that the money for the payment, which consists of N608 million and N4.8 billion was released in two portions, for the 2020 and 2021 MRTF payments, however, an embargo was put to stall the process.
“The money for the MRTF was released from the budget office which is in two tranches. It is supposed to be payment for 2020 MRTF that was omitted and 2021. For 2020, it is about N608 million and for 2021, it is about N4.8 billion.
“The members have been verified and payment is actually supposed to be made but because of their mischief, the money has been released to the IPPIS office and they have confirmed the amount to be paid and the system has been loaded.
“However, the payment cannot be done because some powers that be put an embargo on payment of the MRTF. Ngige is the one running everything, while the Ministry of Health has gone to sleep.
“The Ministry of Labour is the one in charge of everything. It took us to court, instituted no work no pay, and stopped them from paying us the MRTF. His plan is to break us, but I hope he doesn’t end up breaking himself because so many people have been in his position and have left. He won’t be there forever.
“We had an electronic National Executive Council (NEC) meeting today (yesterday), where we briefed our members on the outcome of everything. We were given the mandate that the strike can continue. We have an AGM on Friday where we are going to revisit and go through all the strike actions.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has expressed fear for the future of the medical profession in the country as it said the situation under which the profession operates was becoming hopeless.
Speaking during the 2021 Correspondents’ Chapel Week of the Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Uyo over the weekend, the union’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Aniekeme Uwah, noted the high rate at which doctors and other medical practitioners were leaving the country
He expressed that if modalities were not put in place to appease the situation, it would affect the health sector in the long run.
Uwah appealed to the federal government to make adequate budgetary provisions so that doctors and other health workers will be motivated and well remunerated.
The association also accused the Ministry of Labour and Employment of deliberately undermining the Budget Office’s efforts to pay its members’ Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) for 2020 and 2021.
