Doctors’ Strike: Minister Directs Hospital Heads, NYSC Members To Fill Vacuum

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has directed heads of federal government hospitals to ensure that all other medical doctors in the other strata are available to fill the vacuum, following the industrial action embarked upon by the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, on Monday,

The resident doctors are post graduate doctors on training at secondary and tertiary health institutions in Nigeria especially teaching hospitals.


They are also under the employment of the federal government during their residency training.

The resident doctors began a total and indefinite industrial action on Monday in order to get the government to agree to their demands.

This is not the first time they would be embarking on nationwide strike this year on same demands, with the government negotiating with them and promising to implement some of their demands.

However, the association has claimed those demands have not been met. The strike could cripple the smooth running of health activities at secondary and tertiary healthcare sector because the resident doctors are mostly the first point of medical call for patients in the hospitals.

In response to this expected outcome, the minister has directed the medical directors and the chief medical directors of federal government owned hospitals to ensure that consultants and Youth Corps doctors as well as doctors on internship are on duty to provide health services at the hospitals in order to ensure there is no break in healthcare services.

The health minister assured all Nigerians that the federal government’s health facilities will be open and render services to the people while the government continues to dialogue with the resident doctors to return to work.