Daily Trust

Despite the suspension of strike by the National Association of Residents Doctors (NARD) nationwide, doctors in Plateau State have continued with the over one month old strike following state government’s refusal to respond to their demands.

President of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) in Plateau, Dr. Dablet Ezra, yesterday said the decision to continue the strike followed a directive by the national body of the association to continue with the strike if the state government does not engage them in any “reasonable” discussion.
“The national body has instructed that states that have not been engaged in any reasonable discussion by their state governments or have not implemented CONMESS would continue with the strike, we have a letter to back this up, and in fact, a copy was even sent to the governor from the national level”. Dr. Ezra said.

The president who maintained that the suspension of the recent strike affects only federal institutions said, “We heard that some states have reached a reasonable level of negotiation with the doctors, but here in Plateau nothing has been done, therefore we are complying with the national directive to continue the strike”.

Reacting, Special Adviser to Governor Jonah Jang, Hanssi Suleiman, said the doctors had not been considerate by embarking on a strike based on the directive from  their national body. He added that there was the need for them to appreciate government’s efforts considering that Plateau State was among the few states in the North that have implemented CONTISS, stressing, “go and find out how many states have implemented CONTISS, they are very few, but Plateau has done that.”