The Federal government on Tuesday FG begged the members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD ) to shelve their planned nationwide protest and stop the ongoing strike for the sake of Nigerians because many people are dying in hospitals across the country.
This appeal was made at the ministry headquarters in Abuja through the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Daju Kachallom while addressing journalists.
This is as the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) yesterday appealed to the Federal Government to urgently resolve all areas of disagreement.
NMA President, Dr Uche Ojinmah, said the association would continue to protect the interest of members of NARD as a matter of policy, lamenting that the avoidable labour dispute had gone too far.
Daju, who has been conciliating on behalf of government with unions newsmen begged the NARD members not to allow more Nigerians to die due to their absence in the hospitals.
She pleaded with the striking doctors to return to work without further delay to save their fellow countrymen whose lives are hanging between life and death, assuring that the government is working assiduously to meet all the demands of NARD in a short period.
The Permanent Secretary explained that the major issues of which NARD had insisted prompt response, were the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) and the one on one replacement of doctors in hospitals.
Dr Ojinmah urged NARD to extend a gesture of goodwill towards the government in the interest of suffering patients and fellow citizens.
He said: “Let’s put aside all obstacles (contrived or real) towards a speedy resolution of this dispute for the love of the nation. A better Nigeria is a tangible reality if we all do the right thing for this nation.”
