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Nigerian doctors strike again over benefits amid coronavirus

Published 08/09/2020, 13:56
Updated 08/09/2020, 14:00
Nigerian doctors strike again over benefits amid coronavirus

By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Nigerian resident doctors began
their second strike of the year over pay and working conditions
amid the spread of the new coronavirus, the doctors' union told
Reuters on Tuesday.
The strike began on Monday, and includes 16,000 resident
doctors out of a total of 42,000 doctors in the country, Dr.
Aliyu Sokomba, President of the National Association of Resident
Doctors, told Reuters.
"It is an indefinite strike until issues are resolved," he
said. "All resident doctors at the COVID-19 centres have joined
the strike."
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has a total of
55,160 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1,061 deaths.
Resident doctors are medical school graduates training as
specialists. They are pivotal to frontline healthcare in Nigeria
as they dominate the emergency wards in its hospitals.
The group last went on strike in June, demanding better
benefits and more protective equipment for battling the
coronavirus. They are still demanding, among other things, life
insurance and hazard allowance.
In a statement, Minister of Labour Chris Ngige called on the
doctors to suspend the strike.
"All parties are enjoined not to employ arm-twisting methods
to intimidate or foist a state of helplessness on the other
party," he said.
The statement said the government had spent 20 billion naira
($52.56 million) on hazard allowances for healthcare workers in
April, May and June, and had met the bulk of the doctors'
demands. Sokomba said the union planned to meet Ngige on
Wednesday and hoped they could resolve issues and call off the
strike.
($1 = 380.5000 naira)

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