Abuja, July 29, 2023 – The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has rejected the 25 per cent salary increase and the N25,000 peculiar allowance offered to members to stop their ongoing strike.
The Federal Government announced the salary increase and the N25,000 peculiar allowance on Friday in the bid to stop the NARD’s indefinite strike which they started on Wednesday.
The NARD said in a statement signed by Dr. Emeka Orji, its National President, that the Federal Government had failed to meet its demand with its offers.
“We observed the paltry 25 per cent increment in the basic salary of doctors as contained in the circular released by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) in the wake of the strike, as well as the accouterment allowance.
“NEC vehemently rejects the paltry 25 per cent increment in the basic salary of doctors, as well as the accouterment allowance, adding that her earlier demand is for full restoration of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to its right value as at the time of the approval of the structure in 2009.”
The current NARD salary structure was approved in 2009 and implemented in 2014. Hence, the resident doctors are demanding a restoration to the value of the salary as at 2014, saying inflation, exchange rate increment and fuel price had eroded the value.
“Initially, before the removal of the subsidy, we demanded a 200 per cent salary increase. With the removal of subsidy and the fuel price, we have done the math again, which will be in the neighbourhood of more than 600 per cent as the increment required to take us back to the value of that salary in 2014.
“Right now, we are not talking of percentage again; let the government do the calculation and tell us what we are getting because what we are asking is full salary restoration, and not even an increment. This will help us tackle the brain drain in the country.”
Other demands of the doctors include immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF), issuance of a circular by the Federal Ministry of Health for replacement of doctors and nurses that have left the system with new ones, payment of salary arrears, improvement in hazard allowance by state governments, a call on the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to reverse herself on the downgrading of the membership certificate.
Others are rejection of the casualization of doctors in all tertiary health institutions in Nigeria, the immediate unconditional release of one of its trainers, Prof. Ekanem Philip-Ephraim of UCTH Calabar, and the need for the government to beef up security in the country to forestall such occurrences. (GBN)
