The Federal Government of Nigeria has suspended Residency Training Programme in Federal Government Hospitals with immediate effect until the conclusion of an ongoing appraisal of the challenges in the health sector, authorities of the health ministry have said.
The move was announced in a Federal Ministry of Health press release signed by Alhaji Isiaka Yusuf, the ministry’s deputy director of press.
The suspension means that 16000 resident doctors attached to federal government hospitals nationwide are out of job.
According to sources, there is also an internal memo dated 13th August signed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, L.N. Awute, to federal hospitals which includes a directive from the president to the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu to sack all resident doctors.
In the Thursday statement announcing the suspension, Yusuf noted that the strike action by members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), made up mostly of resident doctors, has brought untold hardship on innocent members of the society who were in need of medical care.
“The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) made good its threat of 11th June 2014 by calling out its members on industrial strike action on the 1st of July despite the federal government’s successive intervention meetings and dialogue including extensive deliberations with the leadership of the NMA on 25th and 26th June 2014, where agreements were reached on each of the 24 demands and an MoU was signed by both parties,” Yusuf noted.
In the midst of the strike action, the federal government had also cultivated the attention and intervention of some eminent personalities in order to prevail on the NMA leadership to respect the ethics of their profession and end the strike whilst the dialogue is ongoing. These personalities included the Governor of Delta State, the Secretary to Government of the Federation, members of the National Assembly especially the Senate and House Committees on Heath respectively, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Chairman, National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, the Honourable Ministers of Health and Labour and Productivity, the Honourable Minister of State for Health, Presidents and Registrars of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, the West African College of Physicians and West African College Surgeons, traditional rulers, eminent and senior members of the medical profession and past executives of the NMA.”
He noted that despite all the effort, the doctors refused to yield.
“At the conclusion of each meeting, the NMA promised to call off the strike but would return another day to say that they could not,” he said.
For the whole of July 2014, these doctors did not work yet government, owing to the emergency situation in our country, paid them the July salaries with allowances such as call duty allowance, teaching allowance, hazard allowance, etc, believing that this magnanimity of government would appeal to reason for NMA to call off the strike.”
He described the strike action as one of the most insensitive steps to be taken by any association or a labour union in the history of this country.
“Pertinent to the issue under discussion are the current security challenges in the country with the attendant mass casualties,” he said.
He noted that the situation became compounded by the recent importation of the Ebola Virus Disease into Nigeria on 20th July 2014.
“Following the Presidential declaration of a National Public Health Emergency on Ebola Disease which has united the entire country in the efforts to contain the disease, it is quite regrettable that the people who should take leadership role in the fight against Ebola disease are now the most unsupportive,” he said.
“All efforts by government to contain this disease are being frustrated by the continued industrial strike action of the NMA.”
He noted that it was this frustration of efforts and insensitivity on the part of the doctors that lead to governments decision to suspend the program, which would affect 16000 resident doctors who are currently on strike.
“This directive is without prejudice to any emergency measure that may be necessary for the hospital management to immediately restore full medical services,” Yusuf noted in the statement.
“The Federal Government wishes to reassure the public that optimal medical health care delivery will be sustained in our hospitals.”