Doctors’ strike: Why NARD refused to sign the MoA with FG, NMA

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has given further details on why the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) rejected and refused to sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) reached with the Federal Government by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and its affiliates — the Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria (MDCN) and NARD.

Ngige gave the reasons as he lamented that as a conciliator, the load was too much on him because the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education were not doing their bit and advised the two ministries to sit up and effectively play their roles.

Following the marathon meetings held by the Federal Government with the NMA, NARD and MDCN on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21, the NMA and MDCN signed the MoA, while the NARD refused to sign the MoA, and also refused to call off the ongoing strike.

While meeting with the Forum of Chairmen of Health Institutions in Nigeria (FCHIN) on the lingering crisis, the Minister said the resident doctors wanted him to include a clause in the MoA that section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, with the provision of “No Work, No Pay,” should not apply to them.

Ngige, who stated that the “No Work, No Pay,” policy was a Nigerian law, disclosed that the NARD wanted it to be inserted in the MoA that, the aspect of the law does not apply to them, despite the fact that it was included in the MoA that nobody should be punished for participating in the strike.

The minister said all the issues contained in the earlier signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), ranging from arrears of the consequential adjustment of the national minimum wage, skipping allowance; bench fees, among others, had successfully been tackled at the meeting of 20 and 21 August and all affiliates of the NMA signed the MOA, with  NARD dissenting.

He said: “NARD wants a particular clause to be inserted in the agreement. That section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act should not apply to them. That we should insert in a government agreement, that they should be paid for the period they are not at work. I’m being careful about this. This is the law and I will not lend myself to illegality, to state in the agreement that a group of Nigerians are above the law. But as a matter of fact, a clause in that agreement states clearly that nobody should be punished for participating or not participating in the strike.

“So, what else do they want? They want me to put in writing that they are above the law. That ‘No work, No pay’ should not apply to them. That ‘No work, No pay’ is no more part of our law despite the fact that I swore to uphold the constitution. This is notwithstanding that a clause in the agreement says that no one should be punished for any role in the strike. This is why they refused to sign the MoA and call off the strike and not that government has not substantially met their demands.”

However, the minister called on the officials in the Ministries of Health and Education, who are the parent ministries of the unions who engage in incessant and perennial strikes to sit up and effectively play their roles.

“Whether you are talking about  ASUU, SSANU, NMA, JOHESU, etc., their employers are the Federal Ministries of Education and Health respectively. Those ministries should do their work with their employees. The employers of workers under these unions should take care of them. Here, I’m only a conciliator but the load is much because some people aren’t doing their bit,” the labour minister lamented.

In their response, the Forum of Chairmen of Health Institutions in Nigeria (FCHIN) described the ongoing strike by the resident doctors as insensitive.

The forum said the strike does not speak well of the profession whose practitioners swore an oath to save lives, adding that the doctors were insensitive to have continued with the strike despite the fact that the Federal Government has substantially met the demands of the doctors and taking steps to reposition the health sector.

Chairman of the Forum Dr. Sam Jaja, who led the leadership of FCHIN to the meeting in Abuja, said the forum chose a four-pronged approach to resolve the dispute and frowned at the frequent resort to strike by doctors.

Dr. Jaja said, “the Committee of Chief Medical Directors (CMDS) briefed us and it is just exactly what you have narrated. All hope was that the meeting of last week where all the affiliates of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) except NARD signed the MOU would resolve the strike. We feel so concerned the strike hasn’t been called off.

“Strike should be the last resort when every other effort has been exhausted in terms of finding a solution to whatever the problem is. But for any little thing, you resort to disruption of services; it does not portray the country in good light. It doesn’t also portray the profession in good light, most especially such a profession that has to do with the preservation of human lives.

“It makes them (doctors) insensitive and that is not right. For whatever reason, I think we should nip it in the bud. That is what we as a Forum of Chairmen of Health Institutions of Nigeria are in for. We need to find a solution to this. It is not good for us and it is not good for them. I bet that as you are solving this problem, others are warming up to start theirs. We can’t allow them to continue. We must find a permanent solution.

“As the representatives of their employers, we can’t continue to fold our hands over this constant disruption of health services in the country. Our plan was to meet first with the NMA, NARD and the Ministry of Health before coming to you. Incidentally, you are the first to open your doors to us. So, we came to intimate you with our plans. We will return when we round off meeting with them.”

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