Resident doctors at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, have returned to work after complying with the suspension of the nationwide strike declared by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).
The doctors had been on strike since Nov. 1, following NARD’s directive for its members nationwide to embark on an indefinite industrial action over unmet welfare and workplace demands.
NARD had insisted on a 200 per cent upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), full implementation of new allowances proposed since July 2022, and the immediate recruitment of clinical staff to reduce mounting workload in health facilities across the country.
The association also demanded the removal of administrative bottlenecks delaying the replacement of exiting doctors, among other issues.
Speaking on the development, President of UCH NARD, Dr Gboyega Ajibola, said the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) convened on Nov. 29 to reassess the situation after weeks of negotiations.
He explained that the Federal Government had met most of the doctors’ immediate and short-term demands, leading to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) outlining agreed areas and timelines for execution.
“Based on the satisfactory terms of the MoU, the NARD NEC decided to suspend the industrial action and give the government a period of four weeks to re-appraise the efforts of the government as contained in the signed MoU,” Ajibola said.
Following the suspension decision, NARD directed all centres to hold congresses on Dec. 1, where centre presidents were to brief members on developments and issue formal instructions to resume duties.
Ajibola confirmed that UCH held its congress at 8 a.m. on Monday, during which members were updated and instructed to return to work immediately.
He stressed that all resident doctors at the tertiary facility had fully resumed at their duty posts as of Monday.