One of the main unions of medical doctors in Nigeria began on June 15 an unlimited strike throughout the country as the country has just passed the bar of 16,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 including more than 800 contaminated health workers according to official data (16,085 cases, 420 deaths). They denounce poor working conditions and the lack of equipment, including personal protective equipment against the coronavirus. Nigeria’s National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) announced that health workers were suspending all care except for those working in Covid treatment centers. But this exception is for a limited period of time.
NARD President Aliyu Sokomba warned that these exempted doctors would join the strike if their demands were not met within two weeks. “If they continue to be disingenuous, we may have no choice but to designate the doctors we have exempted to join the strike,” he said.
Strikes by medics are common in Nigeria, where the health sector has been underfunded for years.
The NARD had threatened to go on strike in mid-March on the day Nigeria registered its third covid 19 case, but was dissuaded from doing so by another organization, the Nigerian Medical Association.
The authorities fear that any reduction in capacity could severely hamper its ability to tackle the pandemic as the number of cases continues to rise.