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…calls for better welfare packages, improve hospitals’ conditions The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Ogun state branch, has thrown its weight behind the Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) in its ongoing strike, calling on the Federal Government to address the association’s demands. The State Chairman of NMA, Dr Lukman Ogunjimi, at a press conference held on Tuesday, in Abeokuta, said the strike became necessary for the government to improve on working conditions of doctors and healthcare services in the country. The Association noted that the federal government had failed to meet its 19 important demands of NARD, which are aimed at improving doctors’ welfare, training, and the general condition of hospitals in Nigeria. The NMA Chairman made it clear that the doctors are on strike not because of themselves but are demanding a better healthcare system for all Nigerians. The Association attributed unpaid allowances, poor hospital infrastructure, delay in promotions, unfair dismissal of medical officers, and low motivation due to poor working conditions as some of the challenges the resident doctors are calling the attention of the federal government to. “Only one of the 19 demands has been met since the beginning of this industrial action, “The strike, which began on Saturday, is a total, indefinite, and complete meaning that no hospital is exempt. Ogunjimi urged the Federal Government to treat the demands of the doctors with urgency, stressing that it’s not just about doctors’ pay, but about fixing Nigeria’s weak health system. “We urge the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Labour to see this not as agitation but as a call to rescue our failing health system,” the association said. They also pleaded with Nigerians to be patient, explaining that the strike is necessary to make the government take the problems in the health sector seriously. The association restated its full support for NARD under the leadership of Dr. Muhammad Usman Suleiman, saying, “a healthy nation requires healthy doctors, and the time to act is now.” The Ogun State Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association, Dr Luqman Ogunjimi, flanked his colleagues during the press conference. ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
