The federal government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to halt the five-day nationwide warning strike of resident doctors.As part of the resolution of the dispute, the federal government agreed to adopt the ASUU template for doctors’ pay rise.
A statement by the Director, Press, and Public Relations, Federal
Ministry of Labour and Employment. Mr. Olajide Oshundun said the MoU was signed
at the end of a conciliation meeting convened by the Minister of Labour and
Employment, Senator Chris Ngige in his office on Friday.
Resident doctors had declared a five-day warning strike
beginning from Wednesday to protest the alleged refusal of the federal
government to respond to their demands for a welfare package.
According to Oshundun, the meeting, which lasted for about
five hours addressed all the eight issues raised by the striking resident
doctors.
These include the non-payment of salaries of doctors by
state governments, domestication of the reviewed Medical Residency Training
Fund (MRTF) for the year 2023, the bill at the National Assembly on the bonding
of doctors for five years before licensing, the circular on immediate
replacement of exited doctors, and immediate payment of the 2023 MRTF. The
others are arrears of Consequential Adjustment on Minimum Wage, Skipping
Arrears, and the review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS).
In the MoU made available to journalists after the meeting,
the parties agreed that health is on the Residual List and not the Concurrent
List of the Constitution, and hence, the federal government cannot compel the
state governments to effect the payment of salaries and allowances in the
health sector. “Consequently, NMA and NARD were advised to embrace more
persuasion and social dialogue at the state level.
On the issue of Abia State where doctors have been on strike
for several months over perennial non-payment of salaries, the meeting noted
that the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) has taken the matter to the National
Council on Health (NCoH) in Abuja, which looked into the matter and asked the
Abia State Government to pay up for good health delivery to the people.
“They equally agreed that the states cannot be compelled to
domesticate the MRTF and must not pay the same amount being paid by the federal
government.
They advised NARD to reach out to states that are not paying
and negotiate with them, even if the rates are lower than that of the Federal
Government MRTF”.On the bill of bonding of doctors for five years before
licensing, sponsored by Hon. Ganiyu Johnson from Lagos State at the National
Assembly, the meeting also agreed that the executive arm of government cannot
interfere with it, being a private member’s bill and not an executive bill.
The meeting therefore resolved to await the public hearing
for the bill, where the doctors will deal with the bill through the NMA, to
ensure it does not see the light of day.
Similarly, on the replacement of exited doctors, the meeting
noted that the recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Health Brain Drain
Committee have been forwarded to the office of the Head of Service of the
Federation (OSGF) for further action.
The OSGF was directed to engage all stakeholders by
Wednesday, May 24, 2023, on the matter to ensure the approval of the
implementation plan on or before June 5, 2023, for transmission to teaching
hospitals and federal medical centres for implementation.