NMA calls for crisis resolution in the health sector

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has called for a resolution to the lingering crisis between members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), an affiliate of NMA, and the Federal Government on issues bordering on poor state of health of Nigerians and the welfare of its members.

According to the president of the association, Dr. Mike Ogirima, the issues in dispute still remain poor working environments in public hospitals and renewed efforts to distort the harmony among healthcare workers by some individuals within the Federal Ministry of Health.

Others include selective and biased implementation of the contents of various government circulars and agreements as they relate to remuneration of doctors and delay in bringing out a white paper on the various postgraduate medical training programmes in Nigeria.

He noted that even though the issues had been earlier resolved at meetings mediated by the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and agreements with timelines for implementation reached with the Ministry of Health, NARD and the NMA on 14th July, 2016, the agreements and timelines have again been breached by the Federal Ministry of Health.