Nigerian doctors suspend strike and offer government a chance to resolve issues

Nigerian resident doctors on Thursday suspended their strike over pay and poor working conditions amid the encounter of Covid-19 pandemic, to give the government some time to meet their demands.

Aliyu Sokomba, the head of the doctors’ union announced the suspension of the strike by explaining the reason for this move by saying “to give the government time to address our demands,”.

This is the second strike to be held by Nigerian resident doctors since the start of the pandemic as they demand better pay and better work conditions in order to fight Covid-19 effectively, as well as other benefits including the provision of protective equipment, hazard allowance, and life insurance.

The second strike included around 16,000 resident doctors out of the total 42,000 in the country, with the union's president announcing prior to meeting with the ministry of labour that the strike wouldn't end until all their issues are resolved.

Resident doctors are medical school graduates, who are training to be specialized and they represent a very important part of the Nigerian health care system as the nearly dominant emergency wards.