Resident Doctors Begin Indefinite Strike Monday

Dr. John Onyebueze, NARD's National President said the exercise was shifted due to the coming Eid el Kabir celebration

• Manufacturers move to boost drug supply

Resident doctors, will on Monday, September 4, 2017, begin an indefinite strike nationwide to press home their demands. They are asking for payment of salary arrears, stagnated promotion and halt to alleged diversion of funds meant for them by chief medical directors (CMDs).

The Guardian Nigeria report continues:

Ahead of the action, the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano (AKTH) branch of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) yesterday staged a peaceful march to support the cause.

The association’s National President, Dr. John Onyebueze, said the exercise was shifted due to the coming Eid el Kabir celebration.

In a statement read by the branch president, Dr. Ahmad Rufai at a press conference in Kano, Onyebueze said the association was disturbed that neither the federal nor the state government showed commitment to the issues at stake.

He insisted that his members, despite their commitment and selfless services to humanity, would not beg to be paid. The lingering issues also include the demand for the enrolment of the medical personnel on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), remediation of shortfall in their salaries, defraying arrears of members in both in state and federal tertiary health facilities as well as implementation of the adjusted house officers’ entry level since 2014.

Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria  (PMG-MAN) has held the Nigeria Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Expo (NPME) 2017 in a bid to ensure self-drug sufficiency and drug security.

With the theme, ‘Improving access to healthcare in Nigeria: Strategic partnership to achieve medicine security and self-sufficiency’, the exhibition is targeted at addressing the challenges inherent in local production as well as raising the awareness for domestication of drugs.

The event, which hosted over 120 foreign partners and 50 local manufacturers, urged collaboration to tackle the issues impeding local production.

PMG-MAN Chairman, Dr. Okey Akpa, said the credibility and importance of the sector cannot be over-emphasized, as they move to making Nigeria a hub of manufacturing.