Nigerian doctors are mourning yet another avoidable tragedy. This time, the death of Dr. Oluwafemi Rotifa, a young resident doctor at Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, RSUTH, who reportedly collapsed and died after a gruelling 72-hour call duty
The late doctor, fondly called Femoski by colleagues, was a former President of the Port Harcourt University Medical Students’ Association, PUMSA, and was registered with the United Kingdom’s General Medical Council, awaiting placement abroad.
According to eyewitness accounts, Rotifa had been on continuous call duty for three days in the Emergency Room before retreating to the call room to rest.
It was there that he slumped and later died, despite efforts to resuscitate him in the Intensive Care Unit.
The President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, Dr. Tope Osundara, described the incident as both preventable and a damning reflection of Nigeria’s collapsing health system.
“What happened is that he was on call in the Emergency Room. Afterward, he went to the call room to rest, and it was there that he died. Unfortunately, he was the only one attending to the patients.
“The overuse of manpower strained his health and led to this painful death. It was a death on duty,” Osundara lamented.
