Following the National Association of Residents Doctors’ (NARD) mandate, resident doctors in Jigawa state have started a five-day warning strike.
According to reports from the state, the National Association of Residents Doctors members were present in their respective clinics at Federal Medical Center Birninkudu, Federal University Dutse Teaching Hospital, and every other General Hospital in the state, but they were not attending to patients.
When visiting the Federal Medical Center in Birninkudu (FMC) on Wednesday, it was discovered that the residents’ doctors were present at their assigned work locations, with the bulk of them seated in the common areas of their respective units while patients waited in consultation rooms for the doctors’ attention.
Speaking with Tribune, the president of the National Association of Residents Doctors (NARD) Federal Medical Center, Birninkudu branch, Dr Shamsuddini Haruna Ubale said “Yes we followed the directive of our national headquarter and joined the strike”.
“As you can see we are now on a warning strike for five days. I and the remaining executive had gone round and ensured the strict compliance of the action”.
According to him “I’m confirming to you that all our members here have fully complied and adhered to the order”.
All efforts to get the reaction of the FMC Birninkudu’s management on the ongoing industrial action to prove abortive.
One of the center’s management who preferred anonymity told online Tribune that “this strike has not in any way affected the services of this center”.
“You can see yourself that everything is going normal and smoothly. See patients were all attending, while all on admissions are there taken care and attending”.
According to the anonymous “we are lucky in this center that the number of the members of the NARD is very small. They are not many in number that would affect the services of the center”.
“The statistics of the staff in this center indicated that only 34 per cent of the medical staff were the members of NARD while 66 percent were not. So it means presently 66 percent of our workforce are on duty”.