The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NARD

  • Doctors urged to improve healthcare

    Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has called on resident doctors across Nigeria to give their best always to improve the healthcare delivery system.

    He spoke during the 34th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) held at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). The theme was Postgraduate medical training and national development, challenges of the past, present and future.

    The governor charged them not to depend on government for everything, rather they should look outside the medical book to improve the system.

    Amechi, represented the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Sampson Parker, said NARD has become a force in the fight to restore the dignity of the sector, adding that this is owing to the demand for a better healthcare.

    The governor enjoined doctors to embrace best practices to develop the sector.

    He said NARD can achieve the needed result without resorting to strike, adding that a conducive environment must be created to improve the system for the good of all rather than embarking on a strike.

    He said the country has what it takes to operate a healthy system if the demands of doctors are met.

    “We must think strongly of private sector participation in healthcare system.  This is the time to think how we can improve ourselves because we must think of policies that will make us be in charge of the medical sector,” Amechi noted.

    He further said, “I cannot use the words “Port Harcourt is free of Ebola,” but we have been able to contain it and whenever it comes up we are ready to tackle it. We have made the people have confidence in the system. Ebola is still ravaging other African countries, so we have to be careful.”

    Responding, NARD President, Dr. Jibril Abdullahi, said many issues relating to professional calling of doctors have been politicised, adding that this was why they embarked on a strike.

    He said doctors invest in themselves to improve in their profession rather than the government. Abdullahi regretted the decision to continue the strike during Ebola outbreak, adding: “This is when the country needed us the most.”

    He said over 90 percent of resident doctors leave outside hospitals, due to lack of accommodation, adding that this should not be because they need to live closer to the environment where they work.

    Abdullahi called for good working environment, adding that people will have confidence in the doctor and over-dependence on health tourism will be reduced.”

    NARD chairman, UPTH chapter, Dr. Dan-Jumbo Prince said resident doctors are affected by factors, such as poor quality tools and working environment, among others.

  • Doctors strike in Bayelsa FMC

    Patients are having a tough time at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, following a three-day warning strike by resident doctors.

    As the strike entered day two yesterday, many critically ill patients relocated to private hospitals.

    The development also affected a journalist, John Angafe, whose hand was cut after a vigilance group mistook him for a robber.

    The doctors were said to have embarked on the strike to protest arbitrary deductions in their salaries.

    The Chairman of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr. Ugoeze Asinobi, confirmed the strike was in protest of “unilateral deductions.”, saying the deductions done out by the Federal Government without their consent.

  • Strike continues, say resident doctors

    Strike continues, say resident doctors

    The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) yesterday dashed hopes of any resolution of its ongoing strike.

    In a communique issued at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, NARD said its members would only return to work when the government settled its demands.

    The doctors accused the government of failing to address their demands, including the payment of salaries and allowances to its members.

    The communique by NARD President, Dr. Jubril Abdullahi, and Acting Secretary General, Dr. Udu Chijoke Udu, blamed the government for delaying the resolution of the crisis.

    NARD said the strike could not be resolved because the attitude of the “government grossly fall short of the articulated demands”.

    The association added: “All salaries and allowances of our members (House members and resident doctors) must be paid in full with immediate effect.

    “The government must release and implement the stakeholders’ agreement on residency training programme of July 5 and 6, 2013.”

    NARD demanded an “elaborate investigation of alleged victimisation” believed to have been perpetrated against its members “at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Imo State”.

    The doctors also insisted that failure on the part of government to address the aforementioned demands in clear terms, “the ongoing indefinite withdrawal of services is to be sustained until the above demands are met”.

    NARD said it could no longer “trust the government” on any agreement until it resolved its face-off with the resident doctors.

    It said: “This is not the first time we have been talking. We have met, signed agreements; yet, nothing has changed for over 40 years.”

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday said the Federal Government cannot blackmail its members to return to the classroom.

    The Chairperson of its University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) branch, Prof. Antonia Okerengwo, addressed reporters yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on the protracted lecturers’ strike.

    She vowed that the nationwide strike would only be suspended when the 2009 Federal Government/ASUU agreement was fully implemented.

    She said the Federal Government voluntarily signed the agreement with ASUU leadership, adding that it would be improper to renege on it.

    The union leader said ASUU wrote over 50 letters to Federal Government and lobbied some members of the National Assembly on the need to revamp the Education sector, all without a positive response.

    Okerengwo explained that contrary to the government’s claim, ASUU members were not just fighting for themselves and their welfare but were agitating for Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions to be revitalised.

    Okerengwo said: “We cannot continue to pretend or wish that these problems do not exist. Practical problems need practical solutions.

    “The negotiations for the 2009 agreement took three years (2006-2009). As was agreed in 2012, evidenced by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Federal Government promised to release N100 billion immediately in 2012 and N400 billion in 2013.

    “The technical committee set up by National Executive Committee (NEC) to review the NEEDS Assessment Report also recommended that N800 billion would be required in the short-term of two years (N400 billion per year) for revitalisation. This has remained a mere promise.

    “Only N100 billion for 2012, which is 20 per cent of what is due as at today, has so far been released. The fact is that the N100 billion is the amount due and outstanding since 2012. What about the N400 billion for 2013?

    “We wrote letters to the Federal Government; we lobbied members of the National Assembly on the need to revitalise the Education sector. Now, the government is saying our action is politically-motivated. It is the Federal Government that is politicising the issue…”

  • Resident doctors end three-day warning strike

    The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) yesterday suspended its three-day warning strike which began on Wednesday.

    It embarked on the strike to express its displeasure over what it claimed to be the grossly-inadequate budgetary allocation for residency training and to show dissatisfaction towards unbecoming attitude of the Chief Medical Director of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), Prof George Akpede.

    Its President, Dr Ismail Lawal, who made this known yesterday, said they suspended the strike after consultation with the body’s National Executive Committee (NEC) members.

    He said NARD’s resolve to ensure that residency training was adequately funded was a just one. “The Federal Government should allow hospitals fund it through the internally generated revenue (IGR) and subsidise it,” he added.

    He said the CMD and Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) of ISTH had been removed and their post taken by other people in acting capacity.

    He said there had been assurances from key stakeholders that the grievances of resident doctors across the country would soon be resolved.