FEDERAL Government on Wednesday reversed its disciplinary
actions taken on the striking resident doctors which fired all the sixteen
resident doctors in its payroll and immediately ordered the Chief Medical Directors
(CMDs) to ensure their replacements with new physicians to avoid vacuum.
The
directive was issued on Tuesday by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole through
a circular to chief medical directors (CMDs) and medical directors (MDs) of
Federal Government’s tertiary health institutions in the country, and signed by
permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Amina Shamaki...
“It has come to the notice of the management of the
ministry that some resident doctors in your establishment have voluntarily
withdrawn from the residency training programme by refusing to report for
training without authorisation. Public Service Rule, PSR 030402 (e) is
relevant. This is in spite of the ongoing negotiations on their demands put
forward by the representatives of the National Association of Resident Doctors
(NARD) under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association.
“In view of this development, you are hereby directed to
replace all the doctors that have withdrawn their services, with others from
the pool of applicants for the training programmes in the various disciplines
in order not to create ominous gap in training with attendant disruption of
health care delivery in your facility.
“Meanwhile, the ministry is working with the panel on the
review of the residency training programme in Nigeria, led by Professor Wole
Atoyebi, the registrar of the National Postgraduate Medical College, to
fast-track the development of a comprehensive blueprint for postgraduate
training of doctors in the country. Please, ensure immediate compliance”, the
circular noted.
The
decision of the resident doctors to embark on strike was in respect of
unresolved issues in which allowances and condition of service were prominent. However, after some meetings with the stakeholders, the
federal government was compelled by necessity to reinstate the doctors while negotiation
on the demands continues.
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