The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Friday called off the three-day warning strike it embarked on June 26.
The association’s President, Dr Ismail Lawal, made this known at a news conference at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba.
He directed NARD members to resume work without delay.
“Because of the value we place on the ethics of our profession and in consideration of the Nigerian people, medical services were not entirely grounded during the strike.
“We put all machineries in place to ensure that innocent people of Nigeria did not suffer extreme hardship.
“Services continued fully in all our centres to take care of accident victims, surgical, children, medical and labour/gynaecology emergencies,” he said.
Lawal said that the strike was to express the association’s dissatisfaction with inadequate budgetary allocation for residency training in 2013.
“Members of this association saw an imminent danger looming in the healthcare system, if the issue of residency training is taken with levity.
“Residency training is the only training that develops specialised skills and knowledge in the various fields including gynaecology, paediatrics and orthopaedics.
“It is the only training that can ensure the availability, affordability and easy accessibility of specialised care for the poor and the average Nigerian, who cannot seek treatment abroad.
“If this training should crumble, not only the specialised care will suffer, it will also affect every other level of care, be it primary or secondary.
“It is the template on which every other training in medical care is formed,” he said.
The National President, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr Osahon Enabulele, had on Monday called on the Federal Government to prepare a supplementary budget that would cater for training of resident doctors.
Enabulele said that the budget for training of resident doctors and other health workers was drastically reduced in 2013.
“We strongly appeal for a supplementary budget for residency training in our institutions and adequate budgetary provisions in the future,“ he said.
