Doctors vow to resume strike soon

Nigeria's Resident Doctors have threatened to resume their strike action in a few weeks, if their demands aren't met as soon as possible.

The doctors suspended their week-long strike on Sunday, April 11 after kicking off negotiations with the federal government.

Medical doctors in Nigeria have repeatedly accused the government of never keeping to its side of the bargain.

“The National Executive Council (NEC) resolved to suspend the ongoing total and indefinite nationwide industrial action for a period of four weeks to give room for the government to sort out all pending issues as contained in the Memorandum of Action (MOA)," says NARD (National Association of Resident Doctors) President, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi.

President Muhammadu Buhari (left) with the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige (right) [BBC] Pulse Nigeria

Okhuaihesuyi adds that: “The NEC appealed to all relevant stakeholders to prevail on government and her agencies to keep to their side of the bargain as documented in the MOA in order to prevent reoccurring strikes in the health sector."

According to NARD, authorities in Abia and Imo States have been owing doctors for 20 and five months respectively.

The doctors have also asked the federal government to remove medical training from the concurrent list in order to allow for the universal implementation of the Medical Residency Training Act across the federation.

Resident doctors are trainee doctors fresh out of medical school. They populate the emergency and delivery wards in most Nigerian hospitals.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has hopped on a plane to London for a "routine medical checkup" as doctors groan about poor pay and abysmal working conditions back home.