Abbas: Tinubu ready to meet demands of resident doctors

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, says President Bola Tinubu is ready to resolve issues raised by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

Abbas spoke on Wednesday after a meeting with Tinubu at the state house, in Abuja.

The NARD on Wednesday, declared an indefinite strike.

The association is demanding the immediate payment of the 2023 medical residency training fund (MRTF), release of the circular on one-for-one replacement, payment of skipping arrears, and upward review of the consolidated medical salary structure (CONMESS).

Other demands include payment of the arrears of consequential adjustment of minimum to the omitted doctors, reversal of the downgrading of the membership certificate by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), new hazard allowance, skipping and implementation of corrected CONMESS in state tertiary health institutions and payment of omitted hazard allowance arrears.

The speaker said the engagement with Timubu on the strike by the resident doctors was enlightening, noting that the president showed great concern about their plight.

“We met with the president on the strike of the resident doctors. He asked us to continue to dialogue with them and tell them to give him more time,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“He told us that some of the issues raised by doctors were not known to him and he will like to resolve them as quickly as possible. I believe within the next coming days, some actions would be taken.”

The speaker said the house would also continue to dialogue towards meeting the demands of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress.

“We will invite them to come and sit so that we can hear their grievances and then we follow the same pattern of engaging them, persuading them to give us a little time to see how we can be able to meet their expectations,” he said.