The President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Osundara Zenith, has announced that members of the union will shut down public hospitals nationwide from Thursday.

Zenith stated that the strike action will commence over poor working conditions, shortage of power, downgrading of certificates, poor remuneration and other reasons.

Zenith told Daily Post in an interview on Wednesday that the decision would be reached after a National Executive Council meeting.

He added that the strike is also in solidarity with resident doctors in Abuja and Oyo State who are currently on strike.

According to him, NARD would have to take the decision after its 10-day ultimatum to the federal government fell on deaf ears.

“The reasons are because of the poor working conditions of our members, the issue of shortage of manpower, the downgrading of certificates, the non-payment of salary arrears and allowances, and the issue of the Medical Residency Training Fund (MRTF) for over 2000 resident doctors across the country.

“We are also calling on the attention of the Oyo State government to the issue of resident doctors under their employ who are still on strike. We want the government to listen to their demands.

“We also have the FCT resident doctors currently on strike over similar issues.

“Those are the reasons we are going on strike,” he told Daily Post.