The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its nationwide strike.
President of the association, Dr Orji Emeka Innocent, told Daily Trust that the decision to suspend the strike was made by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the association at its virtual meeting on Friday night.
He said that members of the association would resume by 8am on Saturday.
Dr Innocent said the association decided to suspend the strike following moves by the federal government to address its demands.
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He said the presidency and Senate met with the association earlier in the week.
He said, ” the circular on one-for-one replacement is a very important demand because we believe it would address the severe manpower shortage in the health sector.
“But from what we have seen, it would take another two weeks for government to finalize it.”
He said that the association had another meeting on Friday evening and members concluded that rather than wait two weeks for the circular, they should suspend the strike and review progress in two weeks, ” especially as government has started addressing some of the issues.”
He said the government has also initiated processes towards paying salary, hazard and Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) arrears being owed some of its members.
“So we have decided to trust government once again; , and also that everyone wouldn’t go to sleep because the strike has been suspended,” he added.
NARD had embarked on on an indefinite nationwide strike on July 26 following the federal government ‘s failure to meet its demands.
The major demands for which the association went on strike are : immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) , immediate release of the circular on one-for-one replacement , payment of skipping arrears and upward review of CONMESS in line with full salary restoration to the 2014 value of CONMESS
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