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Dr Oluwafemi Rotifa—a young resident doctor who collapsed after an inhumane 72-hour shift at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH) |
The Public Health Sustainable Advocacy Initiative (PHSAI) has issued a scathing indictment of Nigeria’s healthcare system, following the tragic and entirely preventable death of Dr Oluwafemi Rotifa—a young resident doctor who collapsed after an inhumane 72-hour shift at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH). His death, alone and unsupported in the Emergency Room, has become a harrowing symbol of a system that demands relentless sacrifice but offers no protection.
Dr Rotifa was no ordinary medic. Licensed by the UK’s General Medical Council and a former President of the Port Harcourt University Medical Students’ Association, he represented the very best of Nigeria’s medical talent. Yet even his brilliance could not withstand the crushing weight of a system in freefall. PHSAI has declared his death a national wake-up call, demanding immediate and sweeping reforms to prevent further loss of life among Nigeria’s overstretched and undervalued healthcare workers.
“This was a death on duty,” said Dr Tope Osundara, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD). “The workload is enormous for the few doctors remaining,” added Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu, Vice President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA). “This is heartbreaking and unacceptable.”
PHSAI has laid out an uncompromising blueprint for reform. It calls for better pay, housing, and hazard allowances; expanded medical school intake; faster licensing for new graduates; and structured programmes to attract diaspora doctors back home. It also demands stronger task-sharing policies to empower nurses and allied health professionals, ensuring that the burden of care is more equitably distributed.
Crucially, PHSAI insists that governments must legally enforce maximum working hours and mandatory rest breaks. No doctor should ever be subjected to the kind of marathon shift that claimed Dr Rotifa’s life. The organisation also calls for comprehensive health insurance and welfare packages for healthcare workers, commensurate with the daily risks they face. Families of doctors who die in service must receive immediate relief and long-term support—starting with Dr Rotifa’s own.
The crisis is not confined to one hospital or one doctor. Nigeria’s doctor-to-patient ratio stands at a staggering 1:10,000—far worse than the World Health Organisation’s recommended 1:600. Chronic understaffing, poor working conditions, and the mass migration of medical professionals—known as the “japa syndrome”—have pushed the system to the brink.
Dr Rotifa’s death joins a grim list of recent tragedies. In December 2022, Dr Ahmed Isaiah collapsed mid-surgery in Nasarawa. In August 2023, young doctor Vwaere Diaso died in a faulty elevator at Lagos Island General Hospital. That same year, Dr Okeoghene Edigba collapsed after four consecutive surgeries in Benin. These are not isolated incidents—they are symptoms of systemic neglect.
PHSAI Chairman Barrister Ayo Adebusoye minced no words: “Nigeria’s health system is on the brink of collapse. We cannot continue to sacrifice doctors on the altar of neglect. The Federal, State, and Local Governments must act immediately to protect the lives of health workers and patients alike.”
PHSAI warns that without urgent intervention, more doctors will die in the line of duty, and countless patients will be left without care. “The time for reform is now,” Adebusoye stressed. “Every delay costs lives—both of doctors and the patients they serve.”
The organisation stands ready to collaborate with government, professional associations, and civil society to rebuild Nigeria’s broken health system into one that is sustainable, resilient, and safe. For Dr Rotifa, reform comes too late. But PHSAI insists his death must not be in vain—it must be the turning point that forces Nigeria to finally act.
