Picture Of Resident Doctors In The FCTResident doctors in the Federal Capital Territory say snakes are invading hospitals as poor facilities, unpaid salaries, and neglect push them to a breaking point
Doctors in the nation’s capital have raised an alarming alarm: they are not only battling to save patients’ lives but also fighting for their own survival. The Association of Resident Doctors, FCT chapter, on Monday declared a one-week warning strike, citing inhumane working conditions, irregular pay, and dangerously dilapidated hospitals where snakes and reptiles have invaded wards and claimed the lives of medical professionals.
The group’s president, Dr. George Ebong, told journalists in Abuja that the situation had reached a crisis point. “Some of our colleagues have died from snake bites in the very hospitals where they work. We are becoming mentally sick because of the system, and a sick doctor cannot safely treat patients,” he lamented.
According to him, the strike, which began at 8:00 am on Monday, 8th September 2025, will last until 8:00 am on Monday, 15th September 2025. The doctors vowed not to return to work unless the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) addresses their demands, stressing that their faith in past promises had been betrayed. “We have been believing them for years, but nothing has been done,” Ebong said.
In a strongly worded communiqué issued after its emergency meeting on September 5, the association listed twelve resolutions that underline the gravity of the crisis. Chief among them is the immediate payment of salary arrears owed to members employed since 2023, as well as the urgent recruitment of new doctors to fill a widening manpower gap. The doctors said the shortage has spiraled beyond manageable levels, exposing both staff and patients to catastrophic risks.
The ARD also demanded the prompt release of the 2025 Medical Residency Training Fund, which is essential for doctors who have already sat or are completing examinations this year. The communiqué further condemned persistent irregular salary payments and erroneous deductions, insisting that these issues must be rectified without delay.
On welfare and career progression, the association called for a signed Memorandum of Understanding mandating the skipping of members within three months of employment and the conversion of post-Part II fellows to consultant cadre within six months. It also demanded timelines for promotion exercises, with arrears fully paid within one month.
The doctors said they will no longer tolerate being sidelined in the payment of wage award arrears and the 25/35 per cent upward review of CONMESS, which their colleagues at the federal level and in many states have already received. In addition, they insisted on the immediate settlement of outstanding hazard allowances, describing the prolonged withholding of this entitlement as a deliberate attempt to undermine their value.
But perhaps the most damning part of their demands lies in the state of infrastructure. The communiqué described FCT hospitals as deplorable, embarrassing, and unfit for both patients and medical personnel. “Doctors are left to work without the most basic equipment or consumables,” the document read, calling for urgent renovation, upgrading, and equipping of facilities to world-class standards.
The ARD warned that this strike is only the beginning, stressing that if the FCTA fails to show concrete commitment, a full-scale industrial action could follow. For doctors already fighting snakes, salary delays, and broken facilities, the warning could hardly be clearer: without change, Nigeria’s capital risks a total collapse of its health system.
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