The federal government has appealed to striking Resident Doctors to return to work and allow both parties to use the opportunity of the ongoing negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues holistically and sustainably.
It stated that the Ministry was setting up a Task Force to monitor service delivery at various federal government-owned health facilities nationwide, to ensure that the strike does not cause major disruptions.
However, the Resident Doctors have insisted that they would not suspend the industrial action unless their demands are met.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, said the government has substantially addressed most of the items contained in the 19-point demand by the Resident Doctors.
“Mr. President has expressly directed that we should do everything possible and legitimate to ensure that doctors are brought back to their duty posts,” he said.
Salako took time to explain efforts being made by the Ministry to address most of the issues agitating the minds of the doctors.
On the payment of arrears of salary increment, the minister said: “We agreed that we are owing them seven months arrears of this, 25 percent and 35, percent Wage Award. And I’ve explained to you that in August, the total sum, I think, comes to about N41 billion, and we have paid N10 billion. As of Thursday, N21 billion has been paid. Another almost 12 billion is being processed from it, so that covers the entire arrears that is being owed.”
On the whole, Salako said the federal government has paid 66 percent of the total arrears and was processing the remaining arrears of about 33 percent to be paid within the next 72 hours.
Salako said one of the major factors fueling conflict in the health sector was the division among the various professional bodies within the healthcare system.
According to the minister, these professional bodies try to negotiate separate conditions of service to the extent that even where there should be harmonisation, they still go ahead and secure agreements in silos, thereby creating problems in implementation.
He said the present administration was determined to end the era of such confusion in the health sector, adding that henceforth, all the health sector unions are being made to negotiate and resolve issues of commonality under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
The minister said the ministry had to rescind its decision to approve the appointment of non-doctors to the consultant cadre after doctors raised complaints about it.
He added that the ministry had to also wade into the misunderstanding created by a circular issued with regard to salary increments negotiated by one segment of the health workers after ensuring its withdrawal by the Office of the Salaries, Income and Wages Commission.
“The CBA directed that the Federal Minister of Health and Social Welfare should go back, talk to the health workers to resolve those two issues in-house, and then, having resolved those issues in-house to come back to the CBA so that the CBA can proceed.
“And as a result, we started meeting with all the unions, three of them aggregated. The doctors, aggregated under the Nigerian Medical Association, the nurses, under the National Association of nurses and midwives, and other health workers aggregated under the Joint Health Sector Union. So we started meeting with them around August,” he said.
Salako, explained that the Minister of Labour and Employment, who is heading the CBA constituted to negotiate the health dispute, submitted an interim report which the ministry is studying.
“It is in the course of that temporary suspension of the CBA that the National Association of Resident Doctors came up with their ultimatum.
“Ideally, one of the key requirements of CBA is that it is going on is ongoing. There should be no declaration of industrial issues.
“But despite that, we met with NARD. I met with them twice last week, and the Minister of Finance has met with them. The Minister of Labour and Employment has met with them. Minister of State for Finance has also met with them to try and address all the 19-point issues
“I can tell you that most of these issues are being addressed. First, they spoke about unregulated work hours and prolonged Call duties, mainly due to what they call the shortage of manpower.
“Let me use this opportunity to inform Nigeria that in 2024 alone, the Federal Minister of Health, using a special waiver mechanism that no other sector employs, we were able to engage 14,444 health workers across 64 federal tertiary health institutions. 78 percent of those workers are clinical staff. Out of those clinical staff, 908 are consultants,” he added.
The Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi in Nasarawa state, Dr. Yahaya Baba, spoke on the impact of the strike by resident doctors and the efforts being made by management of the affected hospitals to mitigate it.
He said that all the emergency units of the hospitals have been fully activated and that Consultant doctors are being entrusted with catering for patients in the health facilities.
Meanwhile, the Resident Doctors have responded to the federal government’s offer to release funds for payment of arrears of salary increment owed them, saying that they expect their 19-point demand to addressed.
In a statement jointly signed by its president, Dr. Mohammad Usman Suleiman, and Secretary General, Dr. Shuaibu Ibrahim, NARD said it was imperative to set the records straight.
“While we acknowledge the Ministry’s attempt to reassure the public, the reality on the ground stands in stark contrast to the optimistic narrative conveyed.
“We do not intend to join issues with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare but for the sake of transparency, truth, and the health of Nigerians, it is imperative to set the records straight, particularly for the sake of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu how may have been misinformed about the true nature of our grievances.
“While the Ministry claims that over N30 billion has been released to offset arrears owed to health workers (with doctors receiving only a small fraction of the total sum), this seems diversionary from the crux of the demands raised by NARD,” it added.
Onyebuchi Ezigbo
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