The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has disclosed the details of his meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the matter of the Resident Doctors requests.
Premium Politics reports that the National Association of Resident Doctors declared an indefinite strike action which commenced today, Wednesday, July 26.
Some of the demands of the Resident Doctors include: Payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund; Upward review of Consolidated Medical Salary Structure and salary arrears dating back to 2015.
Recall that, Abbas had a meeting with members of the NARD on Monday, pleading with them not to embark on their planned nationwide strike and promising to resolve their demands.
On Tuesday, he also met with the President in the evening about their demands, however, later that evening, the medical practitioners association declared a nationwide strike beginning from Wednesday, July 26.
Reacting as NARD begins its indefinite strike, Speaker Abbas, on Wednesday, stated that he had pleaded with the President to wade in the situation in order to settle their demands.
He also stated that he had constituted an ad-hoc committee chaired by the Leader of the House, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere and the immediate past Chairman of the 9th House Committee on Healthcare Services, Hon. Tanko Sununu as the Deputy Chairman, while all medical practitioners in the House were all co-opted into the ad-hoc committee.
In a release issued on Wednesday, he stated, “As I assured the leadership of NARD when we met on Monday, I met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR yesterday and discussed the outcome of my engagement with the Resident Doctors. I pleaded with the President to wade into the matter with a view to addressing the issues raised by the Resident Doctors.
“I equally constituted an ad-hoc committee chaired by the Leader of the House Prof. Julius Ihonvbere and the immediate past Chairman of the 9th House Committee on Healthcare Services, Hon. Tanko Sununu as the Deputy Chairman, while all medical practitioners in the House were all co-opted into the ad-hoc committee. The panel was directed to meet with all the stakeholders with a view to resolving the matter immediately now that NARD had embarked on an indefinite strike.”
