By Mohammed Taoheed
Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has told resident doctors in Abuja to stop threatening to embark on industrial action because they might lose their salaries along the line.
He said that he is ready to contend with them in a legal tussle if they wish while addressing them.
“Make your recommendations, and we will see the ones we can do and those we can’t do. Don’t threaten me with a strike because I don’t like it. When you go on strike, I save money; even if you come back, I won’t pay; we will determine it in court.
“It’s not about promises but the reality on ground, I don’t believe in theory,” Wike said.
Recall that the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have been on-and-off industrial actions due to the Federal Government’s failure to meet its demands recently.
The doctors’ demands, among many others, are: the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), tangible steps on the “upward review” of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), and payment of all salary arrears owed its members since 2015.
The doctors also want the immediate massive recruitment of clinical staff in the hospitals and the abolishment of the bureaucratic limitations to the immediate replacement of doctors and nurses who leave the system.
It was learnt that they also want the immediate review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done.
