The industrial action ordered by the national leadership of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) took effect at the tertiary health institutions in Anambra.
The institutions are the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi and the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Amaku, Awka.
Dr Golibe Ikpeze, Chairman of ARD, NAUTH branch said they joined the strike at 8 am on Monday having been duly debriefed by the parent body.
Ikpeze said ARD members had stopped rendering clinical services and left them in the hands of Consultants and others who were not members of the NARD.
The chairman said patients had been briefed on the development with the assurance that the Consultants were still on ground.
“As members of the NARD, we will ensure 100 per cent compliance to the strike which was the resolution we had after a meeting in Umuahia, Abia State.
“None of us will go against that; though doctors are still in the hospital, they are not NARD members.
“We gave the Federal Government more than 100 days to address the issues at stake to no avail.
“The issues include paucity of doctors, non-payment of salaries owed and allowances, issues of recruitment, postings of house officers and all of that” he said.
Ikpeze said doctors were still handling the COVID-19 pandemic resurgence for which government was doing nothing to appreciate the hazards the doctors faced.
At COOUTH Awka, many doctors were seen within the hospital premises.
The leadership of ARD, COOUTH branch could not be reached for the position of the association in the hospital but some who spoke under the condition of anonymity said they were complying with the directive.
However, Dr Joseph Ugboaja, Acting Chief Medical Director of NAUTH said that the hospital would continue to do its best to ensure that patients were taken care of.
Ugboaja said Consultants and other health workers would be doing their job as the issues were resolved while urging patients not to panic. (NAN)
