Resident Doctors May Call Off Strike Today

Following a conciliation meeting held in Abuja over the demands of the National Association of Resident Doctors(NARD), its representatives say the industrial action declared by the doctors may be called off today, Thursday.

NARD said it will consult with the Executive Council of the association after Wednesday’s meeting before making a decision on the next step.

The conciliation meeting, which held on Wednesday, had in attendance the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige and the leadership of NARD, and other relevant Government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA’s).

The meeting was called to address the demands of the doctors and resolve the trade dispute.

It would be recalled that the NARD had decried the challenges it’s members and other health workers across the country were facing,and made a basket of demands from the federal government.

Ngige, who earlier reacted angrily to the timing of the industrial action and the reasons for it, acknowledged that the government was doing all it can to attain a mutually beneficial outcome.

To that effect, on the subject of the Provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), both parties agreed that the hospitals and Isolation Centres across the country now have sufficient PPE.

Secondly, all parties agreed on the provision of group life insurance for doctors and other healthcare workers, and payment of death-in-service benefit to next of kin of the beneficiaries.

The meeting resolved that the federal government had paid the total of N9.3bn to insurance companies for Life Group Insurance and payment of death benefits for health workers.

It noted that enrollment was by the submission of nominal rolls of the various health institutions which NARD had been mandated to accomplish.

“It was decided that NARD should submit copies of claims already made to the Insurance Companies through the Hospitals to the Federal Ministry of Health for onward transmission to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation that would ensure that the Insurance Companies pay the claims.

“The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment should be copied, ” the meeting had resolved.

It was also agreed that “the 2020 Appropriation Act was revised due to Covid-19 pandemic, and the N4bn appropriated for Residency Training under a wrong heading for Medical Residency Training is to be vired before expenditure.

“The process of amendment is therefore ongoing and is expected that this process and cash backing will be through in two weeks,” Ngige had affirmed at the meeting.

On the payment of outstanding 2014, 2015, and 2016 arrears, the meeting recalled that it had been agreed that the issue would be further discussed post-COVID-19. Therefore, no agreement was reached.

In addition, the payment of the Special Hazard/Inducement Allowance was acknowledged and that the N20bn already appropriated in 2020 Covid-19 Budget had been exhausted by N19bn.

The minister commended President Muhammadu Buhari and his government for approving an additional N8.9bn to pay up the large chunk of the June 2020 Covid-19 allowance to all medical and health workers.

“This has been cash-backed and the mandate sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria for payments to start with effect from September 9, 2020. This would bring the total disbursement to about N28B,” the meeting noted.

The meeting also resolved, among others, that the discussions for review of a Permanent Hazard Allowance for all health workers, will commence as soon as possible after consultations by the Ministry of Labour and Employment with all Stakeholders in the Health Sector.

“Based on the principles of ability to pay, this will cover all Health Workers in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The meeting will be convened as soon as possible in that regard,” it added.

Regarding the payment of all arrears of the Consequential Adjustment of the National Minimum Wage to her members and implementation in States’ tertiary health institutions, it was noted that those affected were the Youth Corp Members and House Officers who are regarded as ad hoc staff.

Those at the meeting include representatives from NARD, Federal Ministries of Health, Finance, Budget and National Planning, National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission and that of Labour and Employment.