The Nigerian Medical association, NMA, called off its strike yesterday and directed all doctors in the public health sector to resume full services with effect from 08:00am, today, 23 December, 2013.
It had on 15 December, 2013, directed its members to embark on the nationwide strike to protest doctors’ poor working conditions, inadequate funding, and poor infrastructure in the nation’s health sector.
Osahon Enabulele, NMA national president said, “NMA wishes to inform the general public that doctors in the public health sector will resume services from 23 December. This is in line with our earlier promise to give prime consideration to the Yuletide season and also, to give another opportunity for the Federal Government to concretely resolve all the demands of NMA for which it first issued a 21-day ultimatum on 2 September,”
Enabulele also called on the Federal Government to ensure that the demands of doctors were met, adding that “Nigerian doctors shall not hesitate to commence a full-blown strike from 08:00 on 6 January 2014, if government does not satisfactorily resolve the demands of doctors. We fervently call on all well-meaning Nigerians to assist in the resolution of the demands of the NMA.”
The demands include appropriate funding of Nigeria’s healthcare system, expansion of universal health coverage to cover all Nigerians and health infrastructure upgrade.
At the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH, most doctors were today seen returning to work just like the number of patients seeking medical attention rose. At the hospital’s card section, long queues returned as patients and relatives struggled to pay for cards. One patient spoken to by calitown.com revealed on condition of anonymity that, “let government do something about the incessant strikes in our country, it is telling people outside that we are an unstable country”
Activities in all the government-owned hospitals nationwide were paralysed during the five-day strike by medical doctors.