Buhari Govt Reach Agreement With Resident Doctors

The Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has reached an agreement with the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

Naija News reports that resident doctors on Monday commenced a nationwide strike over the federal government’s failure to meet their demands.

The industrial action by the NARD is the latest in a string of strikes by medics to hit Africa’s most populous nation as it struggles to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

NARD stated that their demands which the federal government had failed to meet include a pay rise, better welfare, and adequate facilities.

“We have kicked off the strike today,” NARD president Aliyu Sokomba told Nigeria News, adding that medics treating virus cases would join the action this time around.

But the federal government and doctors on Wednesday reached an agreement over the ongoing strike.

At a meeting which lasted almost the entire day, the association said it will consult its executive council within the next 24 hours, with a view to calling off the strike by Thursday.

The Federal Government stated that eight of the demands made by NARD had been addressed and the remaining two were in different stages of being resolved.

After extensive deliberations, however, both parties reached several agreements.

They agreed that the Hospitals and Isolation Centres now have sufficient Provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

They also agreed that the Federal Government had paid the total sum of Nine Billion Three Hundred Million Naira (N9.3billion) to Insurance Companies for Life Group Insurance and payment of death benefits for health workers.

On the implementation of the payment of the special hazard/inducement allowance, the doctors said they were satisfied that the N20 billion already appropriated in the 2020 COVID-19 Budget has been exhausted to N19 billion and therefore, praised the Federal Government and the President for approving an additional (N8,901,231,773.55) to pay up the large chunk of the June 2020 COVID-19 allowance to all Medical Health Workers.

Among several other agreements, it was also agreed upon that nobody will be victimized for any activity connected with or for participating in the industrial action.