ABUTH Doctors Begin 5-day Strike Over Salary Issues

Resident doctors at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) in Shika, Kaduna State, have embarked on a five-day warning strike to address salary issues.

The strike began early Monday after the doctors’ one-week ultimatum to the hospital’s management expired.

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

Mikail said the strike is to protest percentage salary payments on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform and to demand repayment of withheld salaries.

He explained that doctors’ salaries were cut by 25 to 27 per cent, amounting to N58,000 to N60,000 last month.

“Additionally, these doctors, who were paid in percentage in June 2024, are also owed salary arrears dating back to 2021,” he added in frustration over the unexplained deductions.

He also stated 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.”

Mikail noted that over 60 per cent of federal tertiary health institutions in the North-West zone have started paying the arrears, but ABUTH has not complied. He stated that the management proposes paying N5,000 instead of the N25,000 due to each doctor.

The association is also demanding a 25 per cent increase in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) for doctors on the GIFMIS platform.

Dr Mikail warned that if their demands are not met after the warning strike, the association will decide on further actions.

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