A Doctor allegedly worked for 72 hours before his death in LUTH.

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A house officer named Dr. Umoh Michael died after allegedly working at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for 72 hours straight, and the hospital’s house officers sounded the alarm yesterday about the poor working conditions there.

The Guardian reports that Dr. Michael passed away on September 17 after working a 72-hour shift in the Neurosurgery Unit.

 

He allegedly stayed on call the whole time, only getting home to attend church on Sunday morning, when he collapsed in his United Evangelical Church pew around 11:00 a.m.

 

Doctors affiliated with the LUTH chapter of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) wrote to LUTH’s Chief Medical Director, Prof. Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo, claiming that the deceased physician’s housemate confirmed that he had been sleeping very little over the previous week.

 

It was said that Dr. Michael was on call 24/7 and only got home from the Neurosurgery unit at around 3 a.m.

 

They complained of “longstanding challenges” such as “bullying from our senior colleagues,” “stressful call hours without breaks between,” “no call food,” and “no good accommodation” since returning to housemanship.

 

The doctors asked that House Officers who had been on call the day before be given the option of working a half day or returning to work by noon the following day, and that they not be required to work for more than 48 hours in a row.

 

They also wanted House Officers’ mandatory pre-employment physicals to be provided at no cost or at least heavily subsidised. House officers were also asked to not do the work of potters, nurses, or patient relatives, and for senior colleagues, senior registers, and registrars to create a welcoming work environment for them.

 

The PRO at LUTH, Omolola Fakeye, responded, saying, “It is not true that anybody worked for 72 hours.” I was not informed of his passing. We were at a show on Monday, but I’ll have to find out what it was about before I can comment. Since “anyone can say anything,” he promised to look into the medical report to determine what actually happened.

 

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