Posted on: Thu 02-09-2021

Five days after the Nigerian Medical Association issued a strike notice, the Federal Government has yet to reach out to the leadership of the body to forestall another action that may throw the nation’s convulsing health sector into a deeper crisis.

Members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have been on strike since August 2, leaving consultants and nurses overwhelmed and many patients stranded.

On Saturday, the NMA, after its National Executive Council meeting in Benin, Edo State, issued a 21-day ultimatum to the government to meet its demands and those of its affiliates like NARD, the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria, and the Medical and Dental Specialist Association in Basic Medical Sciences, or face a strike action.

There are fears that the NWhen our correspondent sought to know on Wednesday if the Federal Government and the NMA had scheduled a meeting to sort out their differences, the association’s General Secretary, Dr Philips Ekpe, said the government had yet to reach out.

He stated, “We have yet to get any message or invitation from them (the government). If they call us, we will let you know. But they have yet to say anything on the matter.”

The NMA scribe also said the association was aware that the Federal Government had stopped the salaries of striking NARD members based on the ‘no-work no-pay’ rule it invoked recently.

Ekpe stated, “As regards the NARD, we are aware that their salaries have not been paid. “It is very sad and not necessary, but we are hopeful that things will be done and everything will be resolved.”

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, did  not take calls made to his mobile telephone on Wednesday.

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