The National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARDN) has ordered its members nationwide to embark on an indefinite strike beginning from Tuesday over the failure of the federal government to observe the implementation of Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) agreement reached between both parties.
Fielding questions from journalists in Kano yesterday, President of the association, Dr. Jibril Abdullahi, said: “We further noted the failure of the federal government to appropriately respond to our demands as contained in our earlier ultimatum which effectively expires at midnight of September 30, 2013.”
Jibril, who also read a communiqué issued by the association, stated that: “We condemn in strong terms the continuous victimisation of our members by the Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri, Imo State in spite of several consultations between them and other stakeholders.
“NEC further observed with dismay the failure of Enugu State Government to implement the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for our members in Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Enugu. This is in spite of implementation of same to a select group in the same institution. This has greatly hampered effective health service delivery and residency training.”
They therefore warned the Enugu State Government that failure to respond positively to their demand would result to the staged withdrawal of services in the state, then the whole South Eastern Nigeria and finally nationwide.
Failure of the government to produce a blueprint on residency training in conjunction with the association and other stakeholders, that would consist of all aspects of residency training including local training modules, funding, and overseas attachments, among many other elements was also identified as one of the reasons for the strike.
The communiqué added that: “All institutions already on the IPPIS platform should be retained and concerted efforts made to identify and correct factors impeding the successful implementation of IPPIS. In addition, no new health institution should be recruited until all anomalies are fully resolved. Thus, the federal government must employ more constructive means of resolving the challenges involved.”
Expressing regret over the untoward hardship the strike had caused Nigerians, the association urged well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the government to respond positively.
