{"id":23169,"date":"2025-11-01T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=23169"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:40:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:40:21","slug":"healthcare-on-hold-abuja-doctors-defy-minister-demand-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/01\/healthcare-on-hold-abuja-doctors-defy-minister-demand-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare on Hold: Abuja Doctors Defy Minister, Demand Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"\">ABUJA, Nigeria \u2014 Resident doctors in Nigeria\u2019s Federal Capital Territory will begin an indefinite strike on Saturday, November 1, citing unresolved welfare issues and administrative delays. The Association of Resident Doctors under the FCTA (ARD-FCTA) said the action follows months of unfulfilled promises and government inaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">In a letter dated October 30, ARD-FCTA informed FCT Minister Nyesom Wike of its decision. \u201cThe Congress unanimously votes to fully join the NARD-declared strike in its entirety. Even if NARD suspends or calls off its strike, ARD-FCTA will continue its own indefinite strike action until all demands peculiar to our Centre have been satisfactorily met,\u201d the notice read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The doctors are demanding payment of outstanding salaries, hazard allowances, improved working conditions, and implementation of promotions. Despite Wike\u2019s public statement in September that he had approved all pending requests, ARD-FCTA says no action has followed. \u201cI have signed all the doctors\u2019 requests on my table today,\u201d Wike had said during a public event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Dr. George Ebong, ARD-FCTA President, expressed frustration over the delay. \u201cWe suspended our last strike in good faith, trusting the minister\u2019s assurances. But weeks have passed, and nothing has changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The strike is expected to severely impact public hospitals in Abuja, with emergency services, outpatient clinics, and elective procedures likely to be affected. Patients and advocacy groups have voiced concern over the timing and potential consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThis is deeply worrying,\u201d said Abuja resident Ngozi Okafor, whose mother is scheduled for surgery next week. \u201cWe understand the doctors\u2019 plight, but the government must act fast to prevent needless suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Healthcare experts warn that the strike could exacerbate existing challenges in the FCT\u2019s medical system, which has faced staffing shortages and infrastructure gaps for years. \u201cThe situation in FCT hospitals has reached a breaking point. Without new hands since 2011, the pressure on existing doctors has become unbearable,\u201d said Dr. Amina Yusuf, a public health consultant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">As of Friday evening, the FCTA had not issued an official response to the renewed strike threat. Sources within the administration say internal discussions are ongoing, but no formal engagement with the doctors has been confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">With the strike set to begin at midnight, residents and medical professionals alike are bracing for disruption, while calls grow louder for urgent government intervention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ABUJA, Nigeria \u2014 Resident doctors in Nigeria\u2019s Federal Capital Territory will begin an indefinite strike on Saturday, November 1, citing unresolved welfare issues and administrative delays. The Association of Resident Doctors under the FCTA (ARD-FCTA) said the action follows months of unfulfilled promises and government inaction. In a letter dated October 30, ARD-FCTA informed FCT [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":23168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,20,3],"tags":[263,262],"class_list":["post-23169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-health-fitness","category-naija-news","tag-fct-minister-nyesom-wike","tag-resident-doctors-in-nigerias-federal-capital-territor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/images-8.jpeg?fit=681%2C381&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23169"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23179,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23169\/revisions\/23179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}