LUTH Doctor Slumps And Dies In Church After Working 72 Hours

Idi-Araba, a doctor working at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), reportedly died after finishing a nonstop 72-hour surgery in the neurosurgery unit.

This information was provided in a letter dated September 19 and submitted to the chief medical director of LUTH by the Association of Resident Doctors. In a letter headed “An Appeal By The House Officers Of LUTH,” the doctors accused their senior coworkers of intimidating them, subjecting them to demanding call schedules without breaks and failing to feed and accommodate them well.

The letter in part reads: “We the house officers are in deep grief over the loss of our colleague, a co-house officer (Dr Umoh Michael) who died on 17th September 2023, after having a 72hrs call in Neurosurgery Unit. He is said to have been on call 72 hours before arriving home on Sunday morning to get set for church service, reaching his worship centre (United Evangelical Church) where he slumped in the church at about 11 a.m.

“His roommate attested to the fact that Umoh Michael has barely slept in their apartment over the past week as he was always on call or the day he returns home is around 3 am after surgeries and other activities in the Neurosurgery Unit.”

The protest letter made note of the long-standing difficulties the doctors have faced since they resumed horsemanship in the hospital, noting that among them are the intimidation they experience from their senior colleagues, the demanding call schedules they work without breaks, the lack of call food, and the poor accommodations.

They demanded that “house officers who did call the previous day, should be allowed either half day the next day or allowed to resume work by midday the following day” and that “house officers should not be made to work 48hrs at stretch.”

“The compulsory House check at the beginning of the House job should be free or grossly subsidised for House officers. Our senior colleagues (senior registers and registrars) should make the work environmentally friendly for us; House officers should not do work of potters, nurses or patient relatives” the letter added.

The teaching hospital has not yet responded to the development