The popular yoruba saying that ‘Ęni kan lomọ’, meaning it is he that wears the shoes that knows where it pinches, recently revealed its true meaning to me in its realest form. Just last week, I learnt what it truly meant beyond just being an aphorism. Popular sayings or aphorisms like this usually stay in the position of mere expressions in our consciousness as humans until we find ourselves at the receiving end of such sayings. In the same way, systemic flaws or structural deficiencies in society always remain dormant in our consciousness as individuals until we become victims of such systemic flaw. The news of kidnapping is just another newspaper report until your loved one is kidnapped and you’re running around looking for how to pay ransome. In the same way ‘doctors are on strike’ is also just another news report until you lose a loved one who couldn’t get an urgent medical attention, due to the strike, and consequently died.
The Nigerian story is filled with such unfortunate occurrences that gave birth to another local aphorism – ‘May Nigeria not happen to you’.
While the media space had not yet recovered from the sudden death of popular gospel singer Toluwanisings, who was reported to have died on the 14th of October 2026 due to lack of urgent medical attention arising from doctors strike, I also lost a close relative who passed on two days later on the 16th as a result of the same reason, lack of urgent medical attention. An asthma patient who had an attack in the middle of the night and was administered first aid treatment before being rushed to the closest hospital nearby which was a teaching hospital only to be rejected as there were no doctors available because doctors were on strike. Before they arrived at the nearest private hospital , she had died, leaving the family, myself inclusive, traumatised.
These are just two isolated cases out of so many others that had occurred over the years. Needless deaths that could have been avoided if only doctors weren’t on strike.
Then i begin to wonder, what really is the value of human life in this country? At what point did the sanctity of human life become second rated to agitations for better welfare of medical unions? This is not to say these agitations are not valid, but should it be at these great costs to human life, more so when the medical profession’s main purpose is life preservation through adequate health care provision. A paradox of sort if you ask me.
While doctors no doubt, have the legitimate right to demand fair treatment and safe working conditions, that right must, and should be exercised in a way that protects patients from abandonment and avoidable harm. When people die because essential medical care was withdrawn without adequate safeguards, the ethical justification for the strike becomes seriously questionable.
The World Medical Association (WMA), the international body that sets widely recognised professional ethical standards for physicians, establishes several relevant principles which includes the respect for human life. This implies that doctors have a professional duty to respect human life and dignity and to protect the health and well-being of their patients. Additionally, the principle dictates that a physician’s primary duty is to provide competent, timely and compassionate care, prevent harm and act in the patients best interests.
These are not merely ideals about being compassionate, they are professional obligations that should always guide a doctors decisions, including during industrial disputes.
Coming home to Nigeria, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), addressed this issue directly in January 2024, stating that it has instructed the heads of teaching hospitals, Federal medical centres and Specialized hospitals to ensure that industrial action does not lead to the abandonment or premature discharge of patients. Specifically, it stated that:
. Accident and emergency departments must remain open and adequately staffed
. Emergency Paediatric services, labour wards, neonatal units and intensive care units must continue providing emergency and critical care.
. Patients already admitted must not be discharged merely because a strike has begun.
. Patients with schedule appointments before the strike must be attended to.
These are important safeguards that demonstrates that the right to pursue employment demands does not remove a doctor’s professional obligation to protect patients from preventable harm.
In this wise, a situation where emergency patients are turned away, critically ill patients are abandoned or essential services are shut down without adequate arrangements, that constitutes a direct violation of the MDCN’s directives which definitely warrant professional disciplinary or legal scrutiny as the case may be.
If a patient eventually dies because emergency treatment was unavailable during a strike, the death deserves investigation after which appropriate sanctions and reprimand be meted out where necessary.
The point here is that no legitimate grievance excuses the abandonment of patients to the point of death.
At this junture, i think it’s only fair to equally point out government’s share of the blame in this matter. While this article has emphasised that doctors have an ethical obligation to preserve human life, government must equally recognise that poor renumeration, unpaid allowance, inadequate medical facilities, excessive workloads and unsafe working conditions undermine the morale of doctors and their ability to deliver quality healthcare. The consequences are evident in Nigeria’s worsening medical brain drain.
In 2025, the Coordinating Minister of Health Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed that over 16,000 Nigerian doctors had emigrated in the last five to seven years, largely in search of better opportunities abroad. Furthermore, the 2025 report on Nigeria’s health statistics indicated that 4,193 doctors and dentists left the country in 2024 alone. These departures deepen staff shortages, increase pressure on the remaining doctors and expose patients to longer waiting times and potentially avoidable deaths. Government must therefore move beyond repeated negotiations and implement sustainable reforms: prompt payment of salaries and allowances, improved working conditions, adequate hospital funding, transparent career progression and enforceable agreement with medical unions. Additionally, the Ministry of Health should ensure proper monitoring and oversight during industrial actions to ensure the maintenance of emergency services at government hospitals. People in critical condition at the point of death shouldn’t be turned away because there’s an ongoing strike.
Medicine is not an ordinary occupation. It carries a special moral responsibility because life or death can sometimes be at the discretion of doctors. No employment grievance should justify abandoning a patient whose life is in immediate danger. The sanctity of human life demands responsibility from doctors who treat patients, but also from government authorities who are responsible for ensuring that treatment remains possible. A functioning healthcare system is a product of the cooperation of these two critical elements, because when these two elephants fight, the grass truly suffers. And trust me, i know what that suffering feels like, i just experienced it.
Olusegun Hassan, Ph.D
Public Policy Analyst and Social Commentator
