Young doctor collapses, dies after 72-hour shift in Rivers

The Nigerian medical community has been thrown into mourning following the tragic death of Dr. Oluwafemi Rotifa, a young resident doctor at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), who collapsed after reportedly working a grueling 72-hour shift.

According to reports, Dr. Rotifa slumped on Monday after retreating to the hospital’s call room to rest. Despite immediate efforts to revive him and his subsequent transfer to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), he sadly did not survive.

Colleagues revealed that the late doctor had been on continuous duty for three straight days, highlighting the harsh working conditions and immense pressure faced by resident doctors across Nigeria.

Confirming the incident, Tope Osundara, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), expressed deep sorrow and condemned the excessive workload imposed on medical professionals. He stressed that such unsafe conditions not only endanger the lives of doctors but also compromise patient care.

“The burnout and workload among medical doctors is becoming very worrisome,” he said.

“We have cried out and complained repeatedly.

“What happened is that the resident doctor was on call in the emergency room. Unfortunately, the workload was strenuous, and they had to regularly go over 24-hour shifts. He had reviewed a patient, and afterwards, he went to the call room to rest.

“They came to call him, and it was there that they saw him sprawled on the floor. He must have fallen from the bed.”

Osundara said some doctors spend a whole month on call.

“Ideally, no one should be on call for even 24 hours. We later discovered he was treating malaria, but adults in Nigeria don’t die of malaria. Malaria is endemic in Nigeria. He had malaria but still had to go and treat a patient,” he said.

“The overuse of manpower strained his health and led to this painful death. His death was due to overworking.”

He asked the government to address staff shortage, improve welfare packages and enforce humane work schedules for doctors.

(TheCable)