Resident doctors embark on nationwide indefinite strike

…Resident doctors are protesting deplorable state of hospitals

National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in Nigeria have embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike, amidst the country’s challenges with the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).

The NARD President, Dr. Aliyu Sokomba while speaking to the press on Monday, June 15, 2020, in Abuja, said the strike will progress while the healthcare professionals tending to lives will be at their duty posts in various coronavirus isolation and treatment centres across the country for two weeks, before they join in the industrial action.

Also, read: Port Harcourt resident doctors to stay out of nationwide strike

The cause of the strike starting today is associated with the refusal of the federal government to pay special allowances to resident doctors despite having series of meetings, which appear to have yielded little results.

Part of the reasons for their actions are also insufficient protective equipment for members of the union treating COVID-19 patients and dilapidated and deplorable states of the nation’s hospitals.

According to Dr. Sokomba, doctors on the frontline of the nation’s COVID-19 battle have been exposed to the coronavirus, with some of them dying from the virus.

It is not the first time Nigerian doctors are threatening to embark on a strike since the nation’s index COVID-19 case was diagnosed on February 27.

In May, doctors in Lagos, epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria, threatened to go on strike as a result of the failure of the police officers to regard them as essential workers.

Last week, Kwara State’s resident doctors warned of an imminent strike action.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has recorded 16, 805 cases of coronavirus infections as of June 14, 2020.