The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, or NARD, urged the government to pay arrears and hazard allowance during a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, warning that the health sector will suffer if their requests are not met.
The president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors Dr. Innocent Orji told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the strike became necessary after the government’s refusal to increase their salaries and to invest more in hospitals.
Although the current work stoppage doesn't affect specialist doctors or nurses, medical residents make up the bulk of health care workers in Nigerian government hospitals.
Health workers in the country have often embarked on strikes demanding improved welfare, blaming an under funded public health sector.
Such strikes are also common with the public health sector lacking sufficient funding for many years despite the country’s huge earnings as Africa’s biggest economy and top oil producer.
Critics, meanwhile, point to the vast disparity between the government hospitals treating most Nigerians and the medical care abroad that is available to the country’s elite, including Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who often travels to the U.K. for medical care.
Amid Nigeria's current economic crisis, the doctors in April threatened to go on strike but “we have not seen any positive sign from the government,” Orji said, adding “The government has not called us to the negotiation table. Instead, what we have been getting is threats upon threats.”
The warning strike could be extended if talks with the government fail to improve, accroding to Orji.
