The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has decided not to go ahead with its planned nationwide strike. The reason given is that the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, took action to deal with the problems the doctors were facing.
The National President of NARD, Dr Mohammad Suleiman, shared this after a meeting with the National Executive Council, NEC. He explained that the Vice President reached out to NARD leaders and gave instructions that helped solve some of the key issues. He also asked for more time to handle other matters.
Dr Suleiman said that after the Vice President’s intervention, the NEC met and agreed to stop the strike that was planned to start on January 12. This decision was made just a few hours ago, and more details will be shared soon. He mentioned that a full report with all the decisions and next steps will be released in the coming days. He also said that once he is well enough, he will speak to the media to explain the situation in more detail. For now, the group is giving the government more time to work in good faith.This pause in the strike brings relief to millions of Nigerians who rely on public hospitals and shows that talks are continuing to avoid a major disruption of medical services across the country.
NARD announced on January 3 that they would start a new Total, Indefinite, and Complete Strike, called TICS 2.0, on January 12.The group said they were taking this action because the Federal Government had not followed through on the agreements made with resident doctors, including those in a Memorandum of Understanding. The decision to strike was made during an Emergency National Executive Council meeting on January 2.