Members of the National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, who have failed to return to work have been sacked by the Federal Government.
A circular from the from the Ministry of Health disclosed that the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, directed Chief Medical Directors and Medical Director of Federal Government Tertiary Health Institutions to replace the absentee doctors with new resident doctors.
In the circular signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Amina Shamaki, it was disclosed that the government was relating with representatives of NARD on ways to addressing the issues raised by them.
“It has come to the notice of the Management of the Ministry that some Resident Doctors in your establishment have voluntarily withdrawn from the Residency Training Program by refusing to report for training without authorization. Public Service Rule, PSR 030402 (e) is relevant.
“This is in spite of the ongoing negotiations on their demands put forward by the representatives of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association.
“In view of this development, you are hereby directed to replace all the Doctors that have withdrawn their services, with others from the pool of applicants for the training programs in the various disciplines in order not to create ominous gap in training with attendant disruption of health care delivery in your facility,” the Minister said.
He said further that, “the Ministry is working with the panel on the review of the Residency Training Program in Nigeria, led by Professor Wole Atoyebi, the Registrar of the National Postgraduate Medical College, to fast-track the development of a comprehensive blueprint for postgraduate training of doctors in the country.”
