The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has suspended its nationwide strike and will resume work on Saturday.
The associationโs national president Innocent Orji confirmed the development on Friday evening.
โGood evening. We just suspended the strike. Work to resume 8 am tomorrow,โ he said in a terse message to Channels Television. โWe will review the progress made in two weeks.โ
The move is coming days after the doctors suspended their planned nationwide protest to press home their demands.
According to the NARD chief, the doctors are pushing for eight things including the recruitment of more persons to replace doctors who have migrated or those who passed on.
โOur members are suffering. Nigerians are suffering too. When you donโt have the right number of doctors in the hospital, there is no way it is not going to affect the healthcare service delivery system. And nobody has come out to tell us that what we are saying is not true,โ he maintained.
โThe government on its own set up a ministerial committee that came up with a guideline since February this year, why hasnโt that guideline been circularised?โ he asked.
He accused the government of failing to meet the doctorsโ demands.
Earlier, the unionโs executive had met with senators led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
NARD declared the โtotal and indefinite strike actionโ on July 25, 2023, over several demands including an increase in wages for the doctors.
