The Federal government yesterday begged the striking members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, to shelve their planned nationwide protest and stop the ongoing strike for the sake of Nigerians because many people are dying in numbers in the hospitals across the country.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Daju Kachallom, made this appeal in Abuja when she addressed journalists at the ministry’s headquarters, Abuja.
This is as the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, yesterday appealed to the Federal Government to urgently resolve all areas of disagreement.
NMA President, Dr. Uche Ojinmah, said the association would continue to protect the interest of members of NARD as a matter of policy, lamenting that the avoidable labour dispute had gone too far.
Daju, who has been conciliating on behalf of government with unions newsmen begged the NARD members not to allow more Nigerians to die due to their absence in the hospitals.
She pleaded with the striking doctors to return to work without further delay to save their fellow countrymen whose lives are hanging in between life and death, assuring that the government is working assiduously to meet all the demands of NARD in a short period of time.
The Permanent Secretary explained that the major issues of which NARD had insisted prompt response, were the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) and the one on one replacement of doctors in hospitals.
Dr. Ojinmah urged on NARD to extend a gesture of goodwill towards the government in the interest of suffering patients and fellow citizens.
He said: “Let’s put aside all obstacles (contrived or real) towards a speedy resolution of this dispute for the love of the nation. A better Nigeria is a tangible reality, if we all do the right thing for this nation.”
