The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, has postponed its scheduled protest, slated to take place today, Wednesday, August 9, 2023.
Innocent Orji, the NARD President, had announced this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily Programme on Wednesday.
According to Orji, the planned protest may have been suspended but the industrial action by the association still persists.
The NARD President had also stated that his colleagues had eight key demands including the demand for the federal government to enlist new hands to replace those already gone in the system through migration (ie brain drain) or death.
In Orji’s words:
“The NARD members are suffering. Nigerians too are suffering too. When a country lacks the right number of doctors in a hospital, there is no way it is not going to affect the healthcare service delivery system of that nation.”
“The federal government on its own launched a ministerial committee that came up with a guideline in February this year, but the guideline been circularised. Why?”
The circular, if approved, would go a long way to reduce the brain drain in the country as doctors would be immediately be enrolled upon the successful completion of their education.
Orji also disclosed that the federal government had not shown dedication to meeting the demands of the Association.
The suspension of the planned protest came about after a meeting between the NARD executive and the Senate, chaired by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Recall that NARD had on July 25, 2023, announced an indefinite strike action over the substitution of doctors who have left the Nigerian healthcare, demanding that the salary structure of its members be raised by 200%, amongst various demands.
