Dr. Femi Rotifa : Resident Doctor Who Died after 72 Hours Non-Stop Duty

Dr Femi Rotifa had everything going for him. At 28 he had become a resident doctor at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital.

However his life was cut short in midthrob after a marathon 72 hour non stop work . He suffered a burn out , collapsed and died before help could come on Monday September 1,2025.

On the day tragedy struck Rotifa was on call in the emergency room. According to an official of the Resident Doctors Association, “Unfortunately, the workload was strenuous, and they had to regularly go over 24-hour shifts. He had reviewed a patient, and afterwards, he went to the call room to rest.

They came to call him, and it was there that they saw him sprawled on the floor. He must have fallen from the bed.”

Rotifa who was President of Port Harcourt University Medical Students Association during his undergraduate years was buried on Thursday September 4 in Port Harcourt.

President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, Dr. Tope Osundara put the situation in Perspective:

“The burnout among medical doctors, especially resident doctors who are manning most of the teaching hospitals, is becoming very worrisome.

What happened is that 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.

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The overuse of manpower strained his health and led to this painful death. It was a death on duty.

We have cried out repeatedly. The few doctors left in this country are overworked, underpaid and poorly motivated.

Government must look into remuneration and ensure immediate replacement of doctors who resign or emigrate. Otherwise, this cycle of needless deaths will continue.
We are not asking for these reforms just for our own welfare, but for the patients. When a doctor is mentally, physically and emotionally broken, he cannot render quality care.

Patients end up spending unnecessary hours in hospitals, waiting for one doctor to attend to thousands. It is the patients who ultimately suffer the most.”