A young resident doctor at Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), Dr. Femi Rotifah, has died after collapsing following 72 hours of continuous work.
Reports indicate that Rotifah had been on non-stop call duty in the hospital’s Emergency Room for three days. He reportedly went to the call room to rest, where he slumped and passed away. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and his colleagues confirmed his death.
Confirming the incident, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr. Tope Osundara, said: “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 doctor attending to the patient. The overuse of manpower strained his health and led to this painful death. It was a death on duty.”
Rotifah was a former President of the Port Harcourt University Medical Students’ Association (PUMSA) and was registered with the UK’s General Medical Council, awaiting placement abroad.
His friends and fellow doctors have taken to social media to mourn his passing.