The Association of Resident Doctors in the Federal Capital Territory Administration has vowed to continue its ongoing strike until all of its outstanding demands are met.
The ARD-FCTA lamented that despite several assurances and interventions, none of the key issues raised months ago have been implemented.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, the President of ARD-FCTA, Dr. George Ebong, said the strike, which was initially suspended six weeks ago following the intervention of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the National Assembly, resumed due to the government’s failure to honour its promises.
According to the doctors, specific timelines were set for the implementation of their demands, but none of them have been met.
The ARD-FCTA is an association of doctors practising in the 14 district and general hospitals, including the Department of Public Health under the FCTA.
The ARD-FCTA began its strike on Saturday following the announcement by its national body, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, to commence an indefinite and total strike on the same date.
“Unfortunately, none of our demands have been implemented. We’re back to where we were before; nothing has been positive yet.
“Today, being the 3rd of November, we have not even been paid last month’s salary. It has become a culture in FCTA that salaries are not paid as of when due.
“We get the month’s salary the following month, and even the following month, we get them in the first week or second week of the following month. It has become a trend.
“When our counterparts in other institutions are getting their salaries paid to them, we struggle to get ours paid, and when we get our salaries paid, it’s never complete.
“And of course, we have the demands that we begged the management to please fix. Knowing so well that these demands are very important in such a way that doctors will have the passion to practice. But unfortunately, this has actually not happened,” Ebong said.
The association revealed that 28 doctors employed in 2023 are still being owed, despite several letters and meetings with the management.
“We still have the payment of the outstanding salary arrears of 28 of our doctors who were employed in 2023 but have not been paid.
“We’ve tried to get this money paid since January of this year. Even though they’ve been owed for more than a year, up till now they have not been paid,” he stated.
Similarly, the association said newly employed external resident doctors, hired about seven months ago, have also not been paid, forcing some to abandon their posts due to financial hardship.
It further decried the non-payment of the Medical Residency Training Fund for about 142 doctors, despite federal approval.
“This fund is meant for doctors to help them train for their exams and help them improve in their discipline, and there are about 142 doctors. It will be very necessary that no name is skipped from that list.
“Again, we don’t have enough hands. We keep talking about the fact that the doctors are getting over-laboured, and then we try to have doctors come into the system, and the management is trying to employ them at the wrong entry level.
“The government or the management is supposed to employ them on the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, step three. But then they are trying to employ fewer people on CONMESS two, and nobody wants to come to work, because anyone employed on CONMESS two is on a salary scale of like 200,000 a month.
“So, you have a doctor that comes to work every day, stays in the hospital like 11 days a month on a salary scale of 200,000 a month. We have people who actually came from Lagos and wanted to come work here. And when they saw the entry level, they just went back to Lagos to stay.
“If they want to employ, we are begging them that they should reverse the entry level of doctors to CONMESS three, step three, as it is done in other federal institutions,” he added.
The association lamented the worsening state of healthcare infrastructure.
The doctors emphasized that unless all issues are resolved, the FCT chapter will not suspend its strike, even if the national body of NARD calls off or suspends its industrial action.
“Our situation in FCTA is peculiar. Even if NARD suspends its strike today, we will continue ours until our demands are met. We have been patient enough,” Ebong declared.
The association called on the Minister of the FCT to intervene, stressing that the delay in implementing his earlier approvals suggests that key officials within the administration may be deliberately sabotaging his directives.
“We believe the Honourable Minister may not have the full picture. It is disappointing that despite his approval, certain persons are holding back implementation. We appeal to him to act decisively.
“We can’t fix the medical system on the pages of newspapers. These problems must be fixed on the ground. We are ready to work, but we can’t give what we don’t have,” he stated.
The doctors are demanding the immediate payment of all outstanding salary arrears to members employed since 2023; commencement of recruitment of new doctors with written, time-bound commitments to conclude before the end of 2025; and the immediate payment of the 2025 MRTF for doctors’ medical training.
Other demands include the immediate stoppage of erroneous deductions and correction of irregular salary payments; documented timelines for skipping and conversion to be fully concluded within one month; and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding mandating the skipping of members within three months of employment.
They are also seeking the conversion of post-Part II Fellows to Consultant cadre within six months of passing, release of promotion timelines and full payment of arrears within one month, and the immediate payment of wage award arrears, as already done for colleagues at the federal and state levels.
Additional demands are the immediate payment of arrears from the 25/35 per cent Consolidated Medical Salary Structure review, urgent renovation, equipping, and upgrading of all FCTA hospitals to globally acceptable standards, immediate payment of 13 months’ hazard allowance arrears, and the immediate payment of all arrears owed to 2025 external residents.
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