By Chinwendu Agoha (Governance Reporter)
It was a great relief on Monday as the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) suspended their seven months old strike action.
The Resident Doctors embarked on an indefinite industrial action in early August following a dispute with the federal government over the non-availability of medical equipment at public tertiary hospitals.
Several attempts to avert the strike by the federal government however failed. Also, efforts by the government and the courts to end the strike flopped.
In a communique by the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ekpe Philips Uche, shortly after a meeting held on Sunday in Abuja among delegates of NMA and NARD, the NMA advised NARD to suspend the strike
The NMA also mandated the National Officers Committee (NOC), to ensure the implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed with the federal government on August 21.
NARD President, Godiya Ishaya, announced that the association has officially called off the strike and will resume work on Wednesday, October 6, 2021.
Ishaya said: “We’ve officially suspended the strike to resume at 8:00 am on Wednesday. We made the decision in the wee hours of today. We held an emergency meeting from 5:30 pm on Sunday to the morning hours of today, and the NEC decided that having reviewed the progress made so far, the strike should be suspended.” NNL.
