Doctors commence five-day nationwide strike today

Doctors in public health institutions across the country will begin a five-day nationwide strike today. According to the  National President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, who spoke with a punch  correspondent on Tuesday, he  said the Federal Government had yet to address the association’s demands with the urgency the situation demands.

Enabulele said though a Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the meeting between members of the association and the Federal Government in Abuja on Monday, the association would not shelve the warning strike.

According to him, they were in a meeting with government officials from 3pm Monday evening to 5am on Tuesday morning and all they  got was the usual promisory note and MOU to stay action till January 6, 2014, and the government claimed that most of the parastatals that would attend to their demands would be on break this festive period, thus showing that they did not realise the urgency of the matter and that the  NMA would not rescind on its position.”

However, he said the association would reconvene after the warning strike to discuss the conditions in the MOU. The striking bodies include the National Association of Resident Doctors, Nigerian Medical Guild, and Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria.