Lifestyle

Resident doctors to begin daily protests over unmet demands

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The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) says it will embark on daily peaceful protests from Wednesday as part of measures to ensure its demand are met.

The association gave the notice on Saturday in a letter addressed to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and made available to journalists.

The letter, which has ‘notice of nationwide mass protests and picketing by NARD,’ was signed by its president, Emeka Orji and secretary-general, Chikezie Kelechi.

According to the doctors, it is the decision of the national executive council of NARD to embark on such action.

“We wish to bring to your notice of the decision of the National Executive Council of NARD to embark on daily peaceful protests and picketing of FMOH, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

“Also, all federal and state tertiary health institutions nationwide, with effect from Aug. 9 at 10.00 a.m.

“This has become necessary to press home our demands which have been largely neglected by our parent ministry and the federal government.

“We are pained that rather than make genuine and concerted efforts to resolve the challenges that led to the industrial action in spite of repeated ultimatums, our parent ministry and the Federal Government have chosen to demonise Nigerian resident doctors instead, after all their sacrifices and patriotism.

“We therefore resolved that it is time the whole world hears our side of the story, the decay and corruption in the health sector as well as the neglect, the public health institutions have suffered all these years that led to repeated industrial actions,” it stated.

The association, however, said that it believed that the government still had time to genuinely address the issues at stake before Aug. 9 or leave it with no other option.

The resident doctors embarked on an indefinite strike on July 26.

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 the 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 is a reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

Other demands include the payment of (MRTF), new hazard allowance, skipping and implementation of corrected CONMESS in State Tertiary Health Institutions and payment of omitted hazard allowance arrears.

Meanwhile, the federal government had on Tuesday, through a letter to all concerned, issued a ‘no work, no pay’ policy following the doctors’ ongoing strike.

The action is to serve as deterrent to other health workers.

Lifestyle

Nigeria urges newly-inducted doctors to shun strike in resolving grievances

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The Federal Government has advised newly-inducted medical doctors not to partake in strike in the country’s health sector.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, according to a statement issued by the Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Charles Akpan, made the call during the induction of six graduates of the University of Abuja into the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) held on Sunday.

The minister’s son, Dr. Andrew Ngige, was among the new inductees.

Ngige urged the medical graduates to be of good behaviour and uphold the highest ethical standards in the discharge of their duties.

He said: “I am a medical doctor. One of you being inducted here is my second son. My first son is also a medical doctor. My daughter is also a medical doctor. By virtue of ethics, our oath as doctors is to save lives. That is our primary duty.

“If doctors go on strike, people die. That is the truth. Human life is irreplaceable. How do you bring back people who have died as a result of doctors not being at their duty posts?

“It is unethical for doctors to embark on strike. I have said it so many times in the past and I will continue to say it. Doctors should not go on strike. Therefore, you should desist from going on strike in the interest of humanity and our noble profession.”

Politics

You are lucky to have me as minister – Ngige tells doctors after suspension of strike

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Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has told former striking doctors that they are lucky to have him as the minister overseeing their affairs.

Ngige made the statement on Wednesday, as an assurance to the doctors that their demands were being met, NAN reports.

Speaking during a meeting with members of the Nigerian Medical Association and executive members of the National Association of Resident Doctors, on Wednesday, in Abuja, the minister said; “You are lucky to have me, a medical doctor and health system manager here as the Minister of Labour and Employment. So, when the matter came, the issues are clear to me.”

The former Anambra governor, however faulted the previous NARD administration for not properly keeping the members of the association informed, stating that it was the reason the strike lasted this long.

He said; “The previous NARD leadership hoarded information from your members. Instead, things wouldn’t have degenerated. There is no need being pugilistic. We know that we have opposition to our government. It doesn’t mean that if we are doing something right, we should not be praised.

“If the former NARD leadership were not playing politics, they should have reported well to their members, especially after the intervention of the Elders Forum of which the President and Secretary-General of NARD were members.”

Politics

Nigerian govt gives condition to withdraw court case against striking doctors

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The Federal Government says the only condition to withdraw a court case instituted against striking members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) is for them to go back to work immediately.

This condition was given by Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige on Sunday in Abuja, while briefong newsmen on the outcome of a meeting he had with President Muhammadu Buhari over the lingering strike.

“I briefed Mr President and we have agreed that they should come back to work and if they come back to work, we can take other things from there; we’ll drop the case in court and then they will come back and get things done.

The Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, in conjunction with the Office of the Head of Service, had a meeting and they are jointly going to do a circular that will be issued for salaries, incomes and wages to reiterate that house officers and youth corps doctors are still on the CONMES scales one and two, respectively. So, I think we are doing the implementation.

“Also, from the monitoring meeting we held this morning, the Ministry of Health has got the list of doctors, who supposedly are to benefit from the Medical Residency Training Fund.

Total submission of about 8,000 names was obtained and the Ministry of Health is scrutinising them.

“We have done the first round of scrutiny and they will now compare what they have with the Postgraduate Medical College’s list and the chief medical directors, who submitted the names.

So, this is it and that is the only thing holding back the Residency Fund payment, because it is there already incurred expenditure has been done by the Finance Minister and it’s in the Accountant-General’s office.

“So, once they verify the authenticity of those they are submitting, the accountant-general will pay.

“Some are refunding, but there is no full reconciliation of the account. That account has to be reconciled to enable the accountants to pay the next round of fund for 2021.

“That’s what I briefed Mr President about and we also discussed some policies, which are not for public consumption now. We take it in strides as the days come by; we also discussed politics and the state of our party,” the minister said.

Entertainment

UCH doctors commence five-day warning strike over IPPIS implementation

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The Association of Resident Doctors, University College Hospital (UCH) Chapter, Ibadan, has embarked on a five-day warning strike over unpaid two-month salaries of its 370 members.

Dr Temitope Hussein told newsmen on Wednesday, March 17, in Ibadan that the strike would end on Saturday.

He said that the strike was to press home their protests over non-payment of the January and February salaries of the affected members.

According to him, 233 of the association’s members have also not been enrolled into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and consequently affecting the payment of their emoluments.

Hussein said that the hospital’s management has not been responsive to the dialogue initiated by the association.

He, however, expressed hopes that at the expiration of the warning strike, an agreement would be reached.

Reacting, the spokesperson of the hospital, Mr Akintoye Akinrinlola, described as unfortunate the decision of the association to embark on a warning strike.

Akinrinlola said that the issues raised “are national issues rather than issues peculiar to the hospital’’.

According to him, the payment of salaries in UCH, which is a government-owned hospital, is done by the Federal Government.

The spokesperson said that although the national body of the association, the National Association of Resident Doctors was poised to embark on a national strike, it had held off on the action following interventions of the National Assembly and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.

“NARD’s decision to embark on a nationwide strike is currently on hold pending outcomes of meetings with stakeholders including the Minister of Health.

“Resident doctors in UCH are not the only ones affected by the non-payment of salaries and IPPIS data capturing.

Other doctors in other hospitals owned by the Federal Government are also affected and the Federal Government has started a dialogue with NARD to resolve the issue,’’ he said.

World News

Why Doctors Bowed Their Heads 3 Times For This Boy When He Died

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This world is full of self-centered persons and finding a truly selfless person who minds for the needs of others is very difficult. An 11-year-old boy named Liang Yao is among the individuals who fall into the category of selflessness.

This boy is from Shenzhen, China. Liang Yao was an exceptional student with high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creativity among others. When he was a little boy, he had two main goals in his life of which all were related to helping and he wanted to become either of them. The first was that he wanted to become a hero and the second was if he could not become a hero then he would become a doctor.

Unfortunately, when he turned nine years old, Liang Yao was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This little kid had to endure this deadly disease. Sometimes he could recover and even come back even stronger. He never gave up and continued to battle with this disease. To bystanders, this boy was a hero who never gave up.

When he was eleven years old the disease progressed and became severe. The surgeries and treatment no longer had any significant effect and this meant that there was little or no chance of recovery. Liang Yao had few moments to live the rest of his life. Most individuals who experience this go into a state of devastation and much worry but on the side of Liang, there came the opposite. He was call and cheerful as if nothing happened to him.

Before Liang passed away he told his mother that he would like to donate his organs to other children to save them. Indeed This boy did not want other people to go through the same pain he had been going through. As you would guess, his mother was amazed at her son’s decision and did not think a child could do this.

It is most probably that the boy read about organ donation and the shortage of organ transplantation and it is a major problem in China.Liang Yao left the world after this and doctors gave his livers and kidneys to children who needed them and the boy saved two lives in the process.

The doctors and all other staff were moved because of this boy’s selflessness and his courage and they bowed three times before his body to show their grief and utmost respect.

Though Liang’s dreamed never went true he did more than ever one can imagine. Now it is this to make your voice heard. What can you say about this boy? Let us know your thought in comments section

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