TIME TO SCRAP NARD AND CONSOLIDATE ON NMA FOR ALL DOCTORS EQUALLY IN NIGERIA

NARD simply means the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors. This association was formerly called National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria. This association purportedly looks after the welfare of all the resident doctors in Nigeria be they in federal or state hospitals.

Residency training of medical specialists is mostly undertaken in Teaching Hospitals across Nigeria. These Teaching Hospitals are either state government owned or federal government owned establishments. All the federal Teaching Hospitals are paid by one Master while the state Teaching Hospitals are paid by the 36 Masters.

The NARD thus purports to fight for the welfare of the resident doctors in both federal and state employ as one unbreakable Unit. This residency ombudsmanic myth of NARD has been exposed over the years as miasmic and maradonic in that the resident doctors in the state government owned hospitals are only used for strikes when the need of total shutdown arises for a momentous impact but dropped when the federal objectives of the strikes are achieved. The state residents are thereafter fed with untenable promises of NARD solidarity at state levels that would never come.

It is obvious that over the years, it has been noted that it would be very obtuse for resident doctors in Kano state whose governor has upgraded their own welfare concerns to embark on strike for the welfare of resident doctors in Bayelsa state whose governor has refused to upgrade their welfare packages. Even in the same state, it was viewed as highly obtuse for resident doctors in a federal Teaching Hospital in a particular state whom the President has already upgraded their welfare concerns, to embark on strike for the failure of a state governor of that State to respond positively to the welfare concerns of the resident doctors in the state owned Teaching Hospital. The whole obtuseness of the possible sympathy strikes become obtunded when a consideration is brought for a sympathy strike action per state per state.

The author of this article read with disillusioned heart, the strike notice put up by the NARD not long ago. As part of the demands of NARD was universal applicability of corrected CONMESS to state owned Teaching Hospitals. What quickly came to mind was the contrived audacity to continue with the strike assuming all the federal demands were met save the state concerns. That was a myth of ombudsmanic residency struggles. That was an unrealistic audacity. That was miasmic and maradonic. That ought not to be.

It is time to scrap NARD for this unrealistic audacities. In fact, NARD is the roadblock for the realization of universal applicability of corrected CONMESS for the state Teaching Hospitals. The staccato impulsiveness and realizations of the federal demands will keep placing the state resident doctors in servitude. There will never be a time for attention to be paid to the individual states in view of pay parity with the federal residents. Even amongst the federal hospitals, they still embark on individual strikes. Sympathy strike across Nigeria per state per state and per hospital is not the way to go.

The way to go is to strengthen the state branches of NMA. Each state should be able to shut down all the Teaching Hospitals in a state (both federal and state hospitals, public and private hospitals) to extract commitments from their governor. The Federal Teaching Hospitals can form an Association of Federal Teaching Hospitals AOFTHON to take care of their mutual interests. The use of state residents as fodder for federal residents interests should be drawn to a halt. The firebrand NARD members should relocate to their respective state branches of NMA and make the branches firebrand. If NMA at National and state levels cannot brace up for the challenges of a foremost profession in Nigeria and sort them out, we cannot continue to wait for NARD, MDCAN, NAGGNDP etc to solve our myriad of problems. It is only the medical profession that has chosen to operate multiplicity of ineffective groups that have run the profession down, to the extent that Medicine in Nigeria has lost all its prime position in Nigeria. Nigerian doctors should be able to speak with one solid voice and not in a cacophony of small voices to make the needed impact.

It has to be noted that the paradym of medical foot soldiers in NARD is a myth rather than factual. The National and State branches of NMA, when properly harnessed, and led by firebrand officers, are all that the Nigerian doctors need. Other groups like MDCAN, AOFTHON, AOSTHON etc will only act as advisory groups to NMA for NMA to swing into action, either as state branch or as a national syncythium.

Ikenna Fredrick Awkadigwe
awkadigweikenna@gmail.com
08039555380