The Association of Resident Doctors has insisted that the federal government must as a matter of urgency address the many challenges facing healthcare delivery in Nigeria.

This was the fall-out of 36th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria, NARDN, held in Enugu State, South east Nigeria.

President of the association, Ugochukwu Onyebueze, listed the resurgence of Polio and Lassa fever among other challenges facing the nation’s health sector.

“We will increase the campaign on infectious disease control. This is important because people need to live,” he stated.

“We are going to pay attention to campaign for improved accessibility to healthcare delivery in Nigeria through ensuring and insisting that the National Health Act is fully implemented.

“We feel that there is ineptitude of the government mechanism that is supposed to be responsible for the eradication, awareness and control of these infectious diseases,” he told reporters.

Onyebueze also complained about the welfare of doctors who are on the residency programme across the country.

He said many members were being owed remuneration, while others suffer victimisation by some Chief Medical Directors of Teaching Hospitals.

“We also observe the deplorable remuneration of our members in states’ health institutions, with most having to endure many months without salary and others having been confined to irregular emoluments of varied percentages even in the present arduous economic conditions in the country,” he said.