The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has enjoined President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, declare a state of emergency in the country’s health sector.
The association, in a communiqué issued on Sunday after its ordinary general meeting held on May 28 and June 3 in Lagos, said the era of paying lip service to brain drain should be over in the sector.
The communique was signed by the president of the association, Dr Orji Emeka Innocent; secretary general, Dr Chikezie Kelechi; and publicity and social secretary, Dr Umar Musa.
NARD urged the government to set up a high-powered panel to review and harmonise the reports from the former President Obasanjo Health Agenda for Nigeria committee and the former Vice President Osinbajo-led Health Sector Reform Committee, to generate a plan of action in the health sector for the Tinubu administration.
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The association also insisted on the demand for at least a 200 per cent increment in the CONMESS salary structure and the associated allowances as contained in its July 7, 2022 letter to the government.
“We have resolved to give the new government some time to quickly resolve this issue, which is at the root of the current spate of massive brain drain in the sector,” it said.
It also called on President Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, put measures in place to cushion the effect of subsidy removal on poor Nigerians.
It advised the government to ensure that monies saved from the removal of subsidy were judiciously used and put into meaningful investments like health and education that would better the lives of all Nigerians.
It also called on Governors Adedapo Abiodun (Ogun), Alex Otti (Abia), Siminalayi Fubara (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq (Kwara) as well as the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to urgently look into the situation in the health sector in their states, saying they are capable of breaking down the industrial peace in their states.
