UCH Resident Doctors Return to Duty After Month-Long Strike

Resident doctors at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, have resumed duties following a nationwide strike that lasted one month.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the industrial action began on Nov. 1 after the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) directed its members across the country to down tools. The strike was called in response to the federal government’s failure to meet the association’s longstanding demands.

NARD is pushing for a 200 per cent increase in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS), full implementation of proposed new allowances dating back to July 2022, immediate recruitment of additional clinical staff, and the removal of administrative delays affecting the replacement of exiting doctors, among other requests.

Dr. Gboyega Ajibola, President of the UCH chapter of NARD, said the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) met on Nov. 29 to review the situation. He confirmed that the government had addressed most of the doctors’ urgent and short-term demands.

According to him, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with the government, clearly outlining each demand and the agreed implementation steps.

“Based on the satisfactory terms of the MoU, the NARD NEC decided to suspend the industrial action and give the government a period of four weeks to reappraise the efforts of the government as contained in the signed MoU,” he said.

Ajibola explained that following the suspension of the strike on Nov. 29, all centres were instructed to hold a congress on Dec. 1, where centre presidents would brief members and direct them to return to work.

“In compliance with this, a congress was held at 8.00 a.m. today (Monday), where members were updated and directed to resume work,” he said, adding that all resident doctors had fully resumed duty.

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