Members of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) all over the country have been directed to commence an indefinite strike beginning from today, the occasion of Nigeria’s 53rd Independence Anniversary.
According to NARD, the decision to totally withdraw the services of its members from 8am on Tuesday is in protest of Federal Government’s failure to appropriately respond to its demands on a comprehensive guideline for residency training in the country, despite an earlier ultimatum that expired on Monday.
Speaking with journalists in Kano on Tuesday morning, National President of NARD, Dr. Jubril Abdullahi revealed that the decision to embark on the industrial action was reached at the association’s extraordinary National Executive Council meeting in Abuja on 28th September 2013.
“The decision of NARD is a painful one,” he said. “But the Federal Government’s nonchalant attitude to articulate a comprehensive guideline for residency training in Nigeria necessitated its action.”
He added that the doctors were also aggrieved by such matters as government’s refusal to begin the implementation of the recently reintroduced overseas clinical attachments for resident doctors, as well as incessant and unjustified disengagements, withholding of entitlements and blatant victimization of resident doctors in many training centres.
