FG sacks ALL resident doctors on strike

In the most outrageous move ever, the Federal Government has ordered the immediate sack of all striking resident doctors in the country.

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, in a document signed by Amina Shamaki, the permanent secretary of the ministry, directed Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) and medical directors (MDs) of FG tertiary health institutions to fill the vacancies created by resident doctors who have “abandoned” their programme.

Resident doctors in government hospitals had declared indefinite strike on Monday over issue bordering on their entitlements.

The circular reads: “It has come to the notice of the management of the ministry that some resident doctors in your establishment have voluntarily withdrawn from the residency training program by refusing to report for training without authorisation. public service rule, PSR 030402 (e) is relevant.

“This is in spite of the ongoing negotiations on their demands put forward by the representatives of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association.

“In view of this development, you are hereby directed to replace all the doctors that have withdrawn their services, with others from the pool of applicants for the training programs in the various disciplines in order not to create ominous gap in training with attendant disruption of health care delivery in your facility.

“Meanwhile, the ministry is working with the panel on the review of the residency training programme in Nigeria, led by Professor Wole Atoyebi, the registrar of the National Postgraduate Medical College, to fast-track the development of a comprehensive blueprint for postgraduate training of doctors in the country.

This sort of sack move has never been successful in the past and I wonder if this will change under our new "CHANGE" government.

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