ABUTH resident doctors begin 5-day warning strike

• The strike, which began in the early hours of Monday, followed the expiration of a one-week ultimatum given by the resident doctors to the management to resolve the issues
  

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Resident doctors at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) in Shika, Kaduna State, have begun a five-day warning strike to demand addressing their salary grievances by the tertiary hospital’s management.

The strike, which began in the early hours of Monday, followed the expiration of a one-week ultimatum given by the resident doctors to the management to resolve the issues.

Vice President of the ABUTH chapter of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr. Ashiru Mikail, disclosed the development during a briefing in Zaria.

According to Dr. Mikail, the strike aimed to protest the implementation of percentage salary payments for doctors on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform and to demand the repayment of previously withheld salaries.

“Last month, the salaries of the affected members were slashed by about 25 to 27 per cent, representing deductions of N58,000 to N60,000,” Dr. Mikail explained. “Additionally, these doctors, who were paid in percentage in June 2024, are also owed salary arrears dating back to 2021,” he added

Dr. Mikail expressed frustration over the lack of a clear explanation for the deductions, despite the prevailing economic challenges in the country. He highlighted that the hospital management’s proposal to pay N2 million monthly from the overhead cost to offset the arrears of accoutrement allowance was grossly inadequate. “The amount proposed can only pay N5,000 to each doctor per month, whereas each member is owed N100,000.”

The vice president further noted that more than 60 per cent of federal government-owned tertiary health institutions in the North-West zone have begun paying the arrears of accoutrement allowance, but ABUTH was yet to comply. “The management only proposes to pay N5,000 instead of N25,000 due for each member,” he stated.

The association is also calling for the implementation of a 25 per cent upward review of the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for doctors on the GIFMIS platform. Dr. Mikail, therefore, warned that if the ABUTH management fails to address their demands after the warning strike, the association would reconvene to decide on further actions.