The Federal Government has told the striking resident doctors that it would no longer pay as long as they continue to stop work.
According to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who spoke at a briefing organized by the Presidential Media Team in Abuja, he noted that the country is currently facing a virulent third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, and cholera outbreak, which has claimed hundreds of lives and an emerging Marburg virus in neighbouring vicinities. “We have said openly that this is not a good time for doctors to go on strike. We’re having a strike for the third time this year that is not good. We have appealed to them. We have been having long meetings with young doctors to tell them that look we have a certain responsibility to our country.”
He therefore stressed that “the doctors have no basis for going on strike at this time”. He therefore stated that there is the invocation of the “no work, no pay” and added that the “no work no pay” rule is recognized by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Meanwhile, the Nation reports that the Federal Government has taken the doctors to the Industrial Court to show cause why government should continue to pay them while they are on strike. The doctors argued that they have no intention to halt the strike and promised to be at the Industrial Count on Monday.
The Health Minister was accompanied by heads of three agencies under the Ministry of Health; Professor Mojisola Adeyeye of the National Agency For Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC); Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); and Dr Faisal Shuibu of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).
