The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its indefinite strike commenced 29 days ago.
The decision was reached at an ‘extraordinary’ National Executive Council meeting held on Saturday.
Confirming the development in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, NARD President Muhammad Suleiman said the strike has been suspended for four weeks.
“The strike has now been suspended for four weeks, we will share more details later,” Mr Suleiman said.
The resident doctors have been on an indefinite strike since 1 November, grounding services across federal hospitals.
NARD declared the indefinite strike after a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on 25 October.
The association accused the federal government of failing to address long-standing issues, including unpaid salary arrears, poor working conditions, delayed promotions, and the non-implementation of the one-for-one replacement policy to curb manpower shortages.
The association also decried prolonged duty hours and excessive workloads due to the migration of health workers abroad.
“The current unsustainable practice of spanning duties across several days poses serious risks to physicians’ well-being and patient safety,” NARD said in its communique.
The doctors’ demands include payment of all outstanding arrears and allowances, immediate replacement of existing doctors, improvement of hospital infrastructure, and inclusion of house officers in the civil service scheme.
Details later…
