A resident doctor at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH), Dr. Femi Rotifa, has passed away after collapsing from exhaustion following a non-stop 72-hour shift.
Reports indicate that Dr. Rotifa had been on continuous duty in the Emergency Room for three days. When he finally went to a call room to rest, he slumped and died. Efforts by his colleagues to save him were unsuccessful.
Dr. Tope Osundara, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), confirmed the tragic incident. “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 one attending to the patient. The overuse of manpower strained his health and led to this painful death. It was a death on duty,” Osundara lamented.
The deceased was a former President of the Port Harcourt University Medical Students’ Association (PUMSA) and had been preparing to relocate to the UK after registering with the General Medical Council. His friends and colleagues have taken to social media to mourn his passing.
