NARD Bans Continuous Call Duty Beyond 24 Hours For Members Over Rising Deaths, Burnout

As Nigeria marked its 65th Independence day connected Wednesday, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has taken steps to support its members from excessive enactment hours, declaring an extremity to continuous telephone work beyond 24 hours.

In a connection issued astatine the extremity of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and signed by its President, Dr. Mohammad Usman Suleiman; Secretary-General, Dr. Shuaibu Ibrahim; and Publicity and Social Secretary, Dr. Abdulmajeed Yahya Ibrahim, NARD described prolonged telephone work arsenic a “silent killer” that has led to the untimely deaths of galore young doctors successful the country.

“If we bash not safeguard ourselves, who will? To this end, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) hereby directs that, with effect from October 1, 2025, each nonmigratory doctors crossed the state shall cease taking continuous calls beyond a 20 4 hr period,” NARD said.

The doctors said the concern inevitably leads to accrued aesculapian errors owed to burnout, endangering patients’ safety, with terrible toll connected the mental, physical, and intelligence well-being of doctors, lamenting that excessively often, nonmigratory doctors sacrifice their wellness and sometimes their lives successful work to their patients.

Highlighting the country’s worsening doc shortage, NARD drew attraction to the World Health Organisation’s recommended doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:600, compared with Nigeria’s alarming 1:9,083 ratio.

With lone astir 11,000 nonmigratory doctors serving an estimated 240 cardinal people, doctors successful the state are forced to enactment utmost hours, NARD lamented, adding that nonmigratory doctors enactment an mean of 106.5 hours per week, with surgical residents logging implicit 122.7 hours weekly.

The relation warned that the unsustainable workload not lone puts patients astatine hazard but besides devastates doctors’ wellness and household lives. “The achy question remains: Who cares for their families and dependants aft their passing? How galore much lives indispensable we suffer earlier decisive enactment is taken?” NARD asked.

As portion of its resolutions, NARD urged the national authorities to instantly instrumentality a one-to-one replacement argumentation to trim the crushing workload connected doctors and found wide regulations to curb excessive telephone hours successful enactment with planetary champion practice.

While acknowledging the contributions of doctors who proceed to service successful the state contempt the planetary encephalon drain, the relation stressed the request for protection, just remuneration, and reforms to safeguard the profession.

On the nation’s Independence Day, NARD said it was important not lone to observe Nigeria’s advancement but besides to bespeak connected the sacrifices of nonmigratory doctors.