The National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, has suspended the nationwide strike, which began on August 2.
Dr. Godiya Ishaya, president of the National Association of Resident Doctors, said the suspension will take effect from 8am, Wednesday.
He further stated: “We are suspending the strike for six weeks to give room for movement in some of the items we noticed a stalemate. There was a stalemate in the enrollment of our members into the IPPIS and payment of their arrears.
“The government was invoking the trade dispute article 41, that is the ‘no work, no pay.’ And since they have been enrolled into IPPIS, it means there was not going to be any salary into their accounts. Without them being paid, they won’t get their arrears; that was a stalemate we felt we should give a window to see if the government can start paying them salaries and push their arrears into their accounts.
“On the issue of ‘no work, no pay,’ we have not agreed to forfeit our salaries. The strike was unnecessarily prolonged because of the government’s response to the strike. Instead of sitting on the table, the government decided to go to court and that kept prolonging negotiation.”
This window for concrete action will remain open for six weeks, Dr. Ishaya said, when the National Executive Council of the Association would meet to define the next line of action.
