By Amos Tauna
The Federal Government and striking doctors have reached an agreement on the ongoing industrial action.
The agreement followed a meeting held by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, with the leadership of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which resulted in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.
The meeting, which started on Friday evening and ended on Saturday, had in attendance the President of NMA, Dr Uche Ojinmah, and his counterpart from NARD, Dr Emeka Orji, among other government officials.
The spokesman of the ministry, Olajide Oshundun, while giving an update on what happened, told journalists that the parties, namely, the Federal Government, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), had reached an agreement to halt the five-day nationwide warning strike of resident doctors.
According to him: “All eight issues raised by the striking resident doctors have been addressed; the fund for the payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) has been captured in the 2023 Appropriation, and the payment would commence when the operation of the 2023 budget begins.”
He further explained that the Federal Government advised striking resident doctors in the country to embrace more persuasion and social dialogue at the state level in order to have their issues resolved before embarking on strike.
The meeting observed that states cannot be compelled to domesticate the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) and cannot pay the same amount as the Federal Government.
Better. They should resolve it ASAP.