The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: NARD

  • FG opposes bill to stop doctors’ migration

    FG opposes bill to stop doctors’ migration

    The Federal Government, Monday, kicked against the bill before the National Assembly seeking to control the migration of doctors for greener pastures abroad.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, expressed the objection while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the extraordinary Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Responding to a question on the threat of doctors to go on a five-day warning strike over what they perceived as the attempt to compulsorily keep medical and dental graduates in the country for five years before granting the licence to practice, Ngige said the bill will go against extant Labour laws.

    The sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives, Ganiyu Johnson, representing Lagos State, had explained that the move was to check the mass exodus of medical professionals from the country.

    The legislation is titied: “A Bill for an Act to amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, Cap. M379, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to mandate any Nigeria-trained medical or dental practitioner to practise in Nigeria for a minimum of five years before being granted a full licence by the council to make quality health services available to Nigeria; and for related matters.”

    Following the introduction of the bill, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) had vowed that it will resist any attempt to enslave Nigerian medical doctors under any guise.

    The association has announced a plan to embark on a five-day warning strike with the immediate withdrawal of the bill as one of its demands.

    Other demands are an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salaries of doctors, the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act, and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done; among others.

    But Senator Ngige said, “Nobody can say they (doctors) will not get a practising licence till after five years. It will run counter to the laws of the land that have established the progression in the practice of medicine.

    “I am a medical doctor. When you graduate from medical school, you go on a one-year apprenticeship called housemanship or internship as the case maybe. After your internship, you are now given a full licence because prior to that, what you have is a provisional licence of registration with the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

    “So, after that intensive training, you were signed off by consultants and you became a fully qualified medical doctor to attend to human beings and to work without any supervision again. Supervision then is voluntary.

    “Resident Doctors are those who have that full licence and they want to acquire post-graduate speciality and speciality is known like surgeon, gynecologists, obstetrics, paediatrics and internal medicine of family medicine. So, they are doctors in training.

    “The Bill in National Assembly cannot stop anybody from getting a full licence. That bill is a private members’ bill.

    “In the National Assembly, they attend to private members’ bills and executive bills. Executive bills emanate from the government into the National Assembly with the stamp of the executive.

    “It is either sent by the Attorney General of the Federation or by the President but usually from the Attorney General of the Federation. So, it’s not an executive bill, it’s a private members bill.

    “That bill is moved by the man from Lagos. So, members of his constituency can tell him this is worrying us. Can’t we check these doctors this way by you going to speak than put up a document?

    “That document is as far as I am concerned not workable. Ab initio, I don’t support it and I will never support it. Like I said before, it is like killing a fly with a sledgehammer.

    “They should think of other ways if they are trying to check brain drain, there should be other ways.

    “If a doctor has read on scholarship, you bond him, if a doctor has read on bursary you can bond him. If a doctor is trained like we are doing now on little or nothing which is like scholarship again because N50,000 a session per medical student is nothing when their counterparts oversees pay seventy thousand pounds for a session.

    “So, I don’t support that bill but can bond them if you want.”

    On warning strike threatened by NARD, the Minister said it is not necessary since government was already engaged with the NMA, their umbrella body.

    Ngige explained: “On the demand for 200 percent salary increase, the NMA is the father of all doctors in Nigeria and they have about four or five affiliates of which the resident doctors is an association affiliating there.

    “You have the Medical and Dental Consultants Association (MEDCAN), they are the consultants who are training these medical doctors to become specialists. You also have general medical practitioners association and you also have doctors working in the private sector

    “So, NMA is the father of all including me. So, NMA is discussing with the Federal Ministry of Health, salaries income and wages commission and the Ministry of Labour and we know that NMA has accepted a salary increase between 25 and 30 per cent across board for their members.

    “So, I don’t know the logic by which people who are members of NMA are now coming up to say pay us 200 percent increase. I don’t understand it.

    “I have called the NMA President to contact them because on the issue of remuneration negotiation, it’s NMA that the government deals with. So, I have told the President of NMA to contact them and we will engage them. They should not go on any strike, it’s not necessary.”

    Ngige also said that FEC approved the Universal Implementation of the Employee Compensation Act (ECA) 2010 following a memorandum presented by his ministry.

    He explained that the law is operated by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), noting that it is a replacement of the old Employee Compensation Act that was known as “Workmen Compensation.”

    According to him, the Council has approved it for universal implementation, “meaning that apart from private sector, that is already implementing, the public sector, which is government; federal, state and local governments, have now to adopt this for the protection of their workers.”

    He further stated: “The Act provides that the worker who is injured or had an accident or contacted a disease or disabled or dead in the course of work, should be compensated, remunerated and even the family, pay something when the man is no longer there. It didn’t make provision for some of the children to be schooled or educated, up to the age of 21.

    “So today is a good day for the Nigerian workers because the decent work agenda that is contained in Convention102 of the ILO has a major branch on what they call workers’ protection in the course of work.

    “So this is the law and Nigeria has today directed that all workers in the ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government should be covered with a percentage contribution. It’s an insurance premium, 1% of remuneration. You pay it and it insures your worker against these workplace accident injuries.

    “That is what the Council passed today and directed the Minister of Finance and the Budget Office of the Federation to make provision for it in annual budget as social contributions. Under the subject of Social Contributions in our annual appropriation, as of today, you only have two items there; number one is Pension Contribution of employers. Second one is the Health Insurance Scheme by the employer.”

    Vanguard

  • NARD: The proposed bill on strikes in health sector is an assault on democratic rights of employees

     

    The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors and the Joint Health Sector Union, on Sunday, knocked members of the House of Representatives over plans to outlaw strikes in the health sector.

     

    The bodies described a proposed bill to that effect as draconian and an assault on the democratic rights of employees.

     

    The PUNCH reports that medical doctors and other health workers usually embark on industrial actions, which have crippled the health system in the country.

     

    In 2021, for example, the NARD embarked on a 63-day strike following the failure of the government to address its demands.

     

    The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Lagos State chapter, is also planning to embark on a strike by January 10 over the failure of the state government to meet its demands.

    The bill, which is being sponsored by a member of the House representing Enugu State, Simon Atige, is titled, ‘An Act to amend the Trade Disputes Act, cap T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to prohibit medical practitioners in the employment of federal, state and local governments in the essential service sectors from embarking on strikes and to accelerate administrative and judicial proceedings in the determination of trade disputes involving them and related matters’.

     

    It seeks to amend the principal Act by amending Section 17 of the Trade Disputes Act, 2004 by creating subsection 2, which provides, “Where a trade dispute has been declared by an organisation of medical practitioners employed by or under the government of the federation or of a state or of a local government or any municipal or statutory authority in a government hospital or medical centre or otherwise in the treatment of the sick or the prevention of disease or the minister has received a report of a dispute concerning such an organisation, the organisation may approach the National Industrial Court for a resolution of the dispute provided that at the time of the organisation’s approach to the court, the minister is also notified by the organisation and all processes are served on all the parties.

     

    It will also create a new subsection 3, which states, “Subject to the requirement of fair hearing, the National Industrial Court may abridge procedures and time stipulations for the purpose of a speedy resolution of the dispute.”

     

    The proposed law will only apply to medical professionals in government employment. Section 49 (3) of the proposed law states, “This Act shall apply to any medical practitioner employed by or under the government of the federation or of a state or of a local government or any municipal or statutory authority in a government hospital or medical centre or otherwise in the treatment of the sick or the prevention of disease, but no such medical practitioner shall embark on an industrial action.”

     

    But the National President of NARD, Dr Godiya Ishaya, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said that the move by the lawmakers was against the rights of workers to express their grievances.

     

    He said, “This move is against the rights of workers to express their grievances with peaceful negotiation and as a last resort, embarking on industrial action. The right to strike is a universal democratic right of all employees, regardless of where they are employed – private or public sector.

     

    “Industrial actions or strikes are not embarked upon over nothing; there are issues that lead to them. The House of Representatives should first promulgate laws that prohibit the government from reneging on several agreements it enters into with health workers.

     

    “Also, there should be laws to prevent the government from delays in payment of salaries, promotion and payment of entitlements of workers. They should make laws that make it mandatory to improve the infrastructure of our hospitals and ensure the availability of consumables at all times.

     

    “Anything short of these as a prerequisite to the law to prohibit strikes by health workers means the government wants to arm-twist, gag and turn health workers in Nigeria into slaves and lame ducks. The result of this will only be a spike in the already enormous exodus of health workers to other countries with better service conditions, where the efforts, abilities and expertise of Nigerian health workers are better appreciated.”

     

    On his part, the spokesman for JOHESU and an executive member of AHPA, Olumide Akintayo, noted that the bill was draconian and an assault on the freedom of expression of the health workers.

     

    Akintayo lamented why the lawmakers would waste taxpayers’ resources on bills meant to trample on the rights of Nigerians.

     

    He said, “This is a tool of the Federal Government to stop strikes in the health sector. Instead of creating a system where workers do not have to go on strikes, you want to trample on their rights to express their grievances.

     

    “This is draconian and it is an assault on the rights of workers. Lawmakers do not understand the privileges of democracy. It is a shame that legislators, who are meant to sympathise with Nigerians as representatives of the people, are the ones coming up with such policies; when they get there, they develop selective amnesia and waste taxpayers’ resources.

     

    “How can you say we should not go on strike? There is freedom of speech and expression; you cannot create a law to stop strikes; what you should do is to make sure that you create a working system where people see no reason to embark on strikes.”

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.punchng.com

  • Victims of bandits attack, others abandoned at FMC Gusau as doctors’ strike enters day four.

    Victims of bandits attack, others abandoned at FMC Gusau as doctors’ strike enters day four.

    As the Nationwide strike embarked by the National Association of Resident Doctors enters day four, Medical services in Zamfara state have been paralyzed. The doctors’ body in the state said the strike has negatively affected clinical services as patients, including victims of bandit attacks, have been left unattended to

    The president of the chapter in federal medical Centre Gusau, Dr. Hussaini Haruna said there is no going back on the strike until their demands are met.

    The federal Medical Centre Gusau, which used to be a beehive of activities, is now nearly empty due to the ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon by the National Association of Resident Doctors.

    The doctors again decided to down tools due to the failure of the federal government to implement the agreement reached last April over their welfare. Their demands include increment in the hazard allowance, medical residency training funds, salary shortfall and the non payment of salaries to some members.

    Dr. Hussaini appeals to the federal government to act fast as patients including victims of Bandit attacks, are in dire need of medical attention. He added that many qualified doctors are leaving the country due to lack of improved welfare.

    On their part, authorities of the Hospital said measures are in place to continue skeletal services especially for emergency cases.

    The Chairman Medical Advisory Council Dr. Sunday Onazi said, only emergency cases are being attended to. Onazi adds that Consultants and NYSC Corp members are doing their best to attend to patients, while those with serious cases are referred to private Hospitals.

    He appealed to the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, settle the issue to enable Doctors resume work as patients are going through hard times.

    This is the second time in seven months that the National Association of Resident Doctors are going on strike over the same demand.

    They are worried that the strike is coming when president Muhammadu Buhari is again outside the country for medical check up and other official engagements just as it happened last April.