By Milcah Tanimu

Resident doctors at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, have begun a five-day warning strike, pressing the hospital management to address their salary demands.

Dr. Ashiru Mikail, Vice President of the hospital’s chapter of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), announced the strike in a briefing held in Zaria. He stated that the warning strike started early Monday after a one-week ultimatum given to the hospital management expired without resolution.

“If nothing is done after the warning strike, the association will reconvene to review its strategy and determine the next course of action,” Mikail said.

The doctors’ demands include the rejection of percentage salary payments for members on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform, calling for the immediate repayment of previously withheld portions of their salaries. Last month, salaries for affected members were reduced by approximately 25 to 27 percent, amounting to N58,000 to N60,000.

Additionally, doctors paid on a percentage basis in June 2024 are owed salary arrears from 2021. Despite the country’s harsh economic conditions, no substantial reason was provided for these deductions by the management.

Mikail noted that the hospital management proposed paying N2 million per month from the overhead cost to offset accoutrement allowance arrears. However, this would only provide each doctor with N5,000 per month, far short of the N100,000 owed to each member.

“More than 60 percent of federal tertiary health institutions in the North West zone have begun paying arrears of accoutrement allowances, but ABUTH has yet to do so,” Mikail stated. “The management’s proposal of N5,000 per member instead of the N25,000 due is unacceptable.”

The association also demands the implementation of a 25 percent CONMESS upward review for the salaries of members on the GIFMIS platform.