How resident doctor died in Rivers hospital

The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Rivers State has faulted media reports that a young resident doctor in the state, Oluwafemi Rotifa, collapsed and died after “a 72-hour shift” in a hospital.

It said the deceased doctor was not feeling well and was off duty, but preferred to be at the hospital by the time he passed on.

The NMA spokesperson in Rivers, Siene Orogun, stated this in an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.

Until his death, Mr Rotifa, a medical doctor, worked at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt. The hospital is owned by the Rivers State Government.

The 72-hour shift story

Many Nigerian newspapers reported that the resident doctor collapsed and died after being on continuous call duty for three days.

However, the NMA spokesperson said that Mr Rotifa was in the call room, but was not working the night he passed on.

A call room is a designated space for hospital staff to rest while on duty.

Mrs Orogun said that if the deceased doctor had been working in the hospital wards, people would have seen him when he collapsed.

“But nobody saw him because he was alone in the call room,” she said, adding that the doctor was not feeling well and was permitted to be off duty, but he preferred to be around his colleagues at the hospital.

“Even his mom wanted him to come home, but he said he just preferred to be in the call room, at least when the guys go to work, they will come into the call room and gist and play together,” she said.

She added that the late resident doctor watched football matches and ate together with his colleagues in the call room before the others left him there.

“The colleagues went to attend to patients in the accident and emergency ward, and by the time they came in around 2 a.m., they met him lifeless in the call room.

“We have been reading a lot of stories since Femi (Rotifa) died. But the truth is, he was on medication for three days, so we allowed him to rest,” she said.

She said Mr Rotifa was given a malaria injection, but he prescribed intravenous quinine for himself when his health did not improve.

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An intravenous injection of quinine is recommended by the WHO as an alternative to injectable artesunate and injectable artemether for the treatment of severe malaria.

The remains of the late doctor were interred today, Friday, 5 September.

Nigeria faces an acute shortage of doctors and other health workers, as many of them prefer to work abroad for better pay and living conditions. The situation has continued to put a strain on the few health workers in the country.