THE State Government has ordered the striking resident doctors in the state to resume work within 24 hours.
Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, who gave the directive in a statement in Port Harcourt, yesterday, said any doctor who fails to resume work on Wednesday risks forfeiture of his salaries or dismissal from service.
The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Saturday declared an indefinite nationwide strike from August over the federal and state governments’ failure to meet the doctors’ demands.
The association said in a statement that salary shortfalls stretching over months, failure to pay some doctors Covid-19 allowances and shortages of manpower in hospitals were some of the reasons behind the strike.
However, Danagogo said doctors in Rivers State have no justification whatsoever to join the strike, adding that NARD’s reasons for declaring the strike were basically national.
He stressed that the industrial action should be restricted to doctors working in federal institutions.
He said: “Sequel to the ongoing strike action by the Rivers State chapter of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) with respect to irregularities in the payment of salaries of house officers by the Federal Government, the Rivers State Government hereby directs all Resident Doctors under the employment of the State Government to call off its strike action immediately.
“Whereas the NARD has a right to go on strike, we expect that such should be restricted to Resident Doctors that are directly under the payroll of the Federal Government, particularly as the Rivers State Government does not owe salaries or benefits to resident doctors in the state.
“We are therefore unable to decipher why Resident Doctors in the state will embark on sympathy strike with their counterparts in the employment of the Federal Government.
“To this end, the Rivers State Government having reaffirmed its position with respect to the above, will not tolerate further strike actions by Resident Doctors in Rivers State and will be compelled to invoke the ‘No Work, No Pay’ rule on striking house officers.
“We therefore direct all Resident Doctors to call off the ongoing strike in the state and return to work within 24 hours, or forfeit their salaries and risk being sacked.”
