Tears as doctor slumps, dies after allegedly working 72 hours in LUTH

A house officer, Dr. Umoh Michael, slumped and died in church after allegedly working for 72 hours in the Neurosurgery Unit at Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

Medical doctors under the aegis of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), LUTH chapter, disclosed this in a letter written to the Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Prof. Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo, Guardian reported.

Dr. Michael allegedly died on September 17 after he returned home from work at about 3:00 a.m.

He arrived home on Sunday morning for church service and slumped in his worship centre (United Evangelical Church) at about 11:00 a.m.

According to the letter, the deceased doctor’s roommate said Dr Michael hardly slept in their apartment for the past one week because he was always on call.

“We have long-standing challenges since we resumed house-manship here and one most striking challenge is the bullying we receive from our senior colleagues, stressful call hours without breaks in between, no call food and no good accommodation.”

The doctors said House Officers should be allowed either half-day or resume work by midday after working the previous day.

They added that doctors should not be made to work for 48 hours at a stretch.

They also demanded that compulsory health checks at the beginning of House jobs should be free or grossly subsidised for House Officers.

However, LUTH’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Omolola Fakeye, dismissed the claim that doctors work for 72 hours on a stretch.

"I will check the medical report of what could have happened because anybody can say anything, but the medical report will show us what actually happened.”