Doctors performing surgery in a theatre. Photo: Olga Garyanova/Unsplash.com
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has threatened a nationwide strike to protest the rising, unchecked violence against healthcare workers in public facilities, demanding immediate security interventions and legal prosecution for offenders.
Citing that over 90% of victims are resident doctors, the union warns that failing to address this “culture of impunity” will accelerate the collapse of the public health system and increase the brain drain of medical professionals .
What It Means to Nigerians
The threat of a nationwide strike by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) carries severe, direct consequences for ordinary citizens, as resident doctors make up the largest backbone of medical staff in the country’s federal and state teaching hospitals.
Total Paralysis of Public Healthcare
Shut Down of Emergency Care: Routine surgeries, specialized consultations, and intensive care monitoring will halt, leaving only critically ill patients to be managed by a few overstretched consultants.
Overcrowded Private Facilities: Patients who can afford alternative care will flood private hospitals, driving up out-of-pocket costs and waiting times.
Compounded Vulnerability: Low-income families who rely entirely on highly subsidized public medical facilities will be left without access to life-saving care.
The Breakdown of Trust and Safety
Escalating Patient-Doctor Hostility: The lack of security institutionalizes an environment of fear, where grieving or stressed relatives resort to violence, and defensive doctors operate under constant anxiety.
Normalisation of Impunity: When assaults on physicians end in mere apology letters rather than legal prosecution, it signals a complete failure of law enforcement within government spaces.
Acceleration of the P “Brain Drain”
Mass Emigration: Hostile working conditions act as a direct catalyst for the “Japa” phenomenon, forcing remaining local talent to seek safer, better-paying opportunities abroad.
Severe Personnel Shortages: As more resident doctors flee Nigeria to escape burnout and physical danger, the doctor-to-patient ratio will worsen, drastically reducing the quality of care for those left behind.
What to do
To resolve this crisis and prevent a catastrophic collapse of public healthcare, immediate, coordinated actions must be taken by government authorities, hospital administrators, the public, and healthcare workers.
What the Government Must Do
Issue an Executive Order: Mandate the immediate arrest, automatic detention, and swift prosecution of anyone who assaults medical personnel or vandalizes hospital property.
Pass Anti-Assault Legislation: Enact permanent federal and state laws that explicitly categorize hospitals as “critical national security zones,” stiffening penalties for attackers.
Fund Victim Compensation: Establish an emergency welfare fund to provide immediate financial relief and medical coverage for doctors injured on duty.
What Hospital Management Must Do
Deploy Armed Security: Replace passive gatekeepers with professional, well-equipped security personnel stationed directly in high-risk zones like Accident & Emergency (A&E) wards.
Install Surveillance Systems: Set up 24/7 CCTV cameras throughout all public hallways, waiting rooms, and treatment areas to capture evidence of misconduct.
Enforce Strict Visitor Limits: Control crowd sizes inside wards by strictly enforcing a “one patient, one relative” policy to minimize chaotic environments.
Implement De-escalation Training: Provide medical staff and front-desk personnel with structured training on how to defuse tense situations with grieving or anxious families.
What the General Public Must Do
Utilize Official Grievance Channels: Channel frustrations regarding slow service, lack of drugs, or poor infrastructure into formal hospital complaint desks rather than attacking frontline staff.
Recognize Systemic Limits: Understand that resident doctors are victims of systemic issues—such as chronic understaffing and missing equipment—and are not personally responsible for hospital shortages.
Call Out Violators: Actively intervene or report individuals seen verbally abusing or physically threatening healthcare workers.
What Healthcare Workers Must Do
Enforce “Work-to-Rule” Safety: Exercise the right to withdraw from or refuse treatment in any ward or clinical area that poses an immediate, unmitigated threat to physical safety.
Form Internal Quick-Response Teams: Establish peer-led security watch groups within local NARD chapters to rapidly document threats and support victimized colleagues.
Systematically Report Incidents: Document and report every single instance of verbal or physical aggression to legal and union bodies, refusing to accept informal apologies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is NARD and why are they threatening to strike?
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) represents medical school graduates undergoing residency training to become specialists. They are threatening a nationwide strike due to a surge in physical assaults, harassment, and unsafe working conditions inflicted by patient relatives and thugs in public hospitals.
Why are resident doctors specifically targeted in these attacks?
Resident doctors make up the vast majority of frontline medical staff in teaching and specialist hospitals. Because they handle the highest volume of patient admissions, emergency intakes, and night shifts, they are the most exposed to frustrated, grieving, or angry visitors.
Which hospitals have been most affected by recent violence?
Major violent incidents and subsequent local warning strikes have heavily disrupted operations at:
University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan
Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo
Central Hospital, Warri
What are NARD’s core demands to call off the strike threat?
The union is demanding immediate safety interventions from federal and state authorities, including:
A Presidential Executive Order to fast-track the arrest and strict prosecution of hospital attackers.
The deployment of robust security architectures and personnel across public health facilities.
Comprehensive financial compensation for doctors who suffer injuries or property damage during facility raids.
How does a NARD strike affect ordinary Nigerian patients?
A nationwide strike completely paralyzes public tertiary healthcare. Routine clinical consultations, diagnostic procedures, and elective surgeries will be canceled. While some consultants may offer skeletal services, emergency rooms and intensive care units quickly become overwhelmed or shut down entirely.
Why do patient relatives resort to violence against doctors?
Assaults are usually fueled by immense emotional distress compounded by systemic hospital failures. Relatives often take out their anger on nearby doctors over prolonged wait times, missing medications, poor infrastructure, power outages, or the sudden loss of a loved one.
Why hasn’t the legal system stopped these assaults?
NARD has heavily criticized a pervasive “culture of impunity” in public medical centers. Most reported cases of physical abuse are quietly settled internally with a simple apology letter, rather than being handled as criminal offenses through police prosecution and formal court trials.
How does this safety crisis fuel the medical “brain drain” (Japa)?
Physical hostility acts as a final breaking point for medical professionals already dealing with low wages and poor infrastructure. When doctors feel their lives are actively in danger at work, they choose to migrate to safer, higher-paying health systems abroad, leaving Nigeria with severe medical personnel shortages.
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