The management of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has urged members of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) to end their six weeks industrial action as the federal government is determined to put their demands in the 2016 budget.

The management of UATH led by the chief medical director, Dr Peter Alabi, at a news briefing in Gwagwalada yesterday, appealed to the resident doctors to end the strike action embarked upon on July 2, 2015 over the inability of 42 out of the 56 federal tertiary hospitals to pay resident doctors for skipping grade under the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale (COMESS 2).

While apologising to the teeming patients’ population of the hospital, Dr Alabi explained that the doctors were not happy because there was an approval from the federal government for them to skip a salary grade under COMESS 2, based on the November 2013 circular from the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHSF) just like other health workers.

He added, “After that circular, there were series of consultations between the NMA and government. The last of such consultation was on the 3rd of July, 2014 and as a way forward, machinery were supposed to be in place for government agencies to work out the details of approval to meet the approval of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and National Salaries, Wages and Income Commission so that the circular can translate to what can be implemented.”