Inside Crisis Facing Medics: Doctors in Nigeria earn N2m, JAPA counterparts in UK N50m

•Doctors-in-Training successful the UK: Over N50m annually

• Residents successful the US: Nearly N90m annually

•Postgraduate Year-One Doctors successful Canada: Roughly N80m annually

•Interns successful Australia: N85m to N120m annually

By Chioma Obinna

The decease of Dr. Oluwafemi Rotifa, a Resident Doctor astatine the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital

(RSUTH) successful Port Harcourt, aboriginal September 2025, is inactive caller successful the minds of Nigerians.

He had died of overwork aft a 72-hour continuous shift. He went to the telephone country to rest, but ne'er got up again — colleagues recovered him collapsed, beyond resuscitation.

His decease highlighted the terrible world of overworked aesculapian unit successful Nigeria, stretched bladed by unit shortages and mediocre moving conditions.

For him, arsenic for galore others, “patients cannot wait.”

For countless Nigerian doctors, this is the silent, grinding reality: brilliance dimmed by neglect, passionateness perpetually astatine warfare with poverty, and resilience tested regular by a breached wellness system.

They transportation the value of a nation’s wellness connected their shoulders, yet their ain well-being is the archetypal casualty. His decease sent shockwaves crossed the aesculapian assemblage — a grim reminder that those who prevention lives are often near with nary 1 to prevention them.

Inside the Wards

It has been a communal occurrence, Resident Doctors collapsing midway done ward rounds.

For patients too, the strategy is unforgiving.

In a authorities owned infirmary waiting hall, an aged antheral with precocious diabetes waits for a doc who whitethorn ne'er arrive.

The caller National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) onslaught had unopen down the clinic, and helium had already spent 2 nights connected a bench, clutching his folder of laboratory results. His lad whispers: “If we had money, we’d spell private. But present is each we have.”

By 7:30 a.m. astir authorities hospitals are already buzzing. For galore Resident Doctors, the time begins agelong earlier sunrise — reviewing patients’ notes nether flickering fluorescent lights, checking captious signs, and bracing for the consultant-led ward round.

By 8:00 a.m., the squad moves furniture to bed, scribbling furiously successful ward registers portion fielding questions, making split-second decisions, and carrying the affectional load of lives hanging successful the balance.

For Dr. Sola (real sanction withheld), a Junior Resident, a peculiar greeting remains evergreen successful his mind.

“We had 3 exigency cases get astir astatine erstwhile — a roadworthy postulation accident, a kid successful septic shock, and a large pistillate with eclampsia. We had lone 1 functioning show successful the unit. We had to determine who got it. That benignant of prime breaks you,” helium told Sunday Vanguard.

After rounds, determination is small pause.

Patients who person travelled hours hold astatine outpatient clinics, clutching files and hope.

A hypertensive grandmother, a young diabetic antheral with ft ulcers, and a kid coughing blood-streaked sputum — each encounters a reminder that unwellness present often meets constricted resources.

Lunch, if it comes, is simply a hurried snack.

Afternoons mean much ward reviews, caller admissions, and insignificant procedures.

For those connected call, the time blurs into night, 24 to 48 hours of non-stop emergencies: mishap victims, changeable patients, cardiac arrests.

Sometimes, the telephone extends into 72 hours, leaving young doctors hollow-eyed, moving connected adrenaline alone.

“It’s not uncommon for america to drawback naps adjacent connected a seat successful the corridor,” said Dr. Ifeanyi, a Senior Registrar successful Internal Medicine.

“You tin beryllium called backmost astatine immoderate second, truthful you ne'er truly rest. It’s endurance connected breached sleep”, helium said

It is not conscionable the agelong hours.

It is the vexation of explaining to families that tests are unaffordable, the soundless prayers during powerfulness cuts successful the operating theatre, and the helplessness of losing patients — not from deficiency of skill, but from deficiency of oxygen, syringes, oregon blood.

Still, they instrumentality each day, driven by work and the fragile anticipation that their sacrifice keeps the wellness strategy afloat.

“We prevention lives each day, but nary 1 saves us,” said a weary nonmigratory astatine 1 of the ...