Akwa Ibom Medical Workers’ Strike Will End Soon – NMA President

The ongoing strike by affiliate medical professionals within the Akwa Ibom State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) would soon give way for normalcy to return across the affected hospitals and health institutions in the state, the national president of the NMA, Prof. Bala Audu, has assured.

The aggrieved NMA affiliates, a couple of weeks ago, called out their members on strike following the failure by the authorities of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) to address various issues in dispute concerning emoluments and welfare of the medical workers.

Among the aggrieved NMA member associations that embarked on the action were  the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), the Association of Specialists Medical and Dental Academics (ASMEDA), and the Nigerian Association of Dental and Hospital University Staff (NADHUS).

They accused the management of the UNIUYO of failure to migrate their members to the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) as being implemented in virtually all federal universities in the country.

However, Prof. Audu, who expressed optimism about a quick resolution of all the disputes, explained that with the intervention of the NMA’s national leadership, hope was on the horizon.

Speaking in an interview with journalists at the reception in honour of four NMA members appointed into the state cabinet by Governor Umo Eno, at the Doctors’ Mess, Uyo, the state capital, Audu, disclosed that “that was one of the issues that brought me to Uyo.”

He said the NMA delegation would meet with the management of UNIUYO, led by the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof. Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, to address the grievances of the striking medical workers.

The NMA chief applauded the governor for his health work force retention policy aimed at prioritising the welfare of medical personnel in the state and urged Pastor Eno, to ensure universal applicability of standards in all the health care facilities across the state.

“The health sector is part of Governor Umo Eno’s ARISE agenda; I have seen what he has done in the health care sector. I have seen the health workforce retention policy in the health care sector. No matter what you do in terms of health infrastructures or equipping health facilities, you must make sure there is unity in all the health workforce, particularly the associations.

“What I want the governor to do particularly is to ensure universal applicability of standards of health care across all the facilities of health care delivery systems in the state, that means that all teaching hospitals owned by the state government must have a standard health care that is befitting of a tertiary hospital.

“The personnel must be appropriate, the building must be adequate and the equipment must be correct and functional so that personnel working there will have what it takes to work and serve the people of the state,” Audu said.

On the shortage of medical professionals, the NMA President, who stated that the shortage of medical doctors is not peculiar to Nigeria alone, but the entire world, advised employers of medical personnel, including governments at all levels, to prioritise the welfare of doctors in order to retain them.

In his welcome address, the chairman of the NMA in the state, Dr. Aniekan Peter, commended Governor Eno for appointing three commissioners with medical backgrounds to the state executive council and one other as his personal physician.

He pledged the association’s support for the commissioners and the governor to ensure that the health care needs of the people were given the desired attention.

“We will stand with you and your principal, Umo Eno, to ensure that the welfare of medical personnel is taken to its zenith and the health of our people is guaranteed.”

Peter, who bestowed on the commissioners the NMA ambassadorial tags, recalled that the health centre initiative introduced by the association in March, 2025, has touched many lives in the state, adding that “its collaboration with ECWS and teaching hospitals will also touch the lives of many, especially the rural dwellers in the state.”