A medical doctor at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, died during a Sunday church service after performing a 72-hour surgery without a break at the neurosurgery unit.

The Association of Resident Doctors disclosed this in a letter dated September 19, addressed to LUTH’s chief medical director.

The doctors accused their senior colleagues of bullying, giving them stressful call hours without breaks, and not providing feeding and good accommodation.

The letter titled, ‘An Appeal By The House Officers Of LUTH’ stated, “We the house officers are in deep grief over the loss of our colleague, a co-House officer (Dr Umoh Michael) who died on 17th September, 2023, after having a 72hrs call in Neurosurgery Unit. He is said to have been on call 72hrs before arriving home on Sunday morning to get set for church service, reaching his worship center (United Evangelical Church) where he slumped in the church at about 11am.”

The protest letter added, “His roommate attested to the fact that Umoh Michael has barely slept in their apartment over the past one week as he was always on call or the day he returns home is around 3am after surgeries and other activities in Neurosurgery Unit.”

The letter pointed out that the doctors “have long standing challenges since we resumed housemanship here and one most striking challenge is the bullying we received from our senior colleagues, stressful call hours without breaks in between, no call food, no good accommodation.”

They demanded that “house officers who did call the previous day, should be allowed either half day the next day or allowed to resume work by midday the following day” and that “house officers should not be made to work 48hrs at stretch.”

“The compulsory House check at the beginning of House job should be free or grossly subsidised for House officers. Our senior colleagues (senior registers and registrars) should make the work environmentally friendly for us; House officers should not do work of potters, nurses or patient relatives,” added the letter.

The teaching hospital did not immediately respond to Peoples Gazette’s request for comment on the matters raised by the doctors.

A fake doctor identified as Abawulor Omenka has been caught by the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners while trying to apply as a medical officer at the Covenant University Medical Centre, Ota, in the Sango area of Ogun State.

According to PUNCH Healthwise, Omenka had applied for the position of a Medical Officer and reportedly presented fake credentials, which included a photocopy of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria registration certificate issued in 2015.

The 35-year-old suspect also presented a certificate from the Benue State University where he claimed to have obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, and graduated with a Second Class Upper Division.

It was gathered that the suspect, who works as an auxiliary nurse at some private hospitals, was caught during a job interview held at the Covenant University Medical Centre while being scrutinised by three doctors about his credentials.

Omenka’s cover was blown after he failed to justify why his MDCN registration number was the same as those who got the certificate four decades ago.

A source told our correspondent that the suspect during interrogation confessed to having obtained the fake certificates from racketeers at Oluwole in Lagos State.

The source said, “The man first went to Covenant University Health Centre last week to apply for the post of Medical Officer.

“The MD of the centre, Dr. Ademola Adebanjo, suspected foul play and scheduled him for an interview this week.

“He then reached out to Dr. Kayode Oyelade, the Chairman of ANPMP, Ogun State chapter about his suspicions. So Dr. Oyelade and Dr. Akin Oyejoko, an executive of the association sat in the interview panel yesterday to be able to get to the root of the matter. That was how he was nabbed.”

The Chairman, Association of Private Medical Practitioners in Ogun State, Dr. Kayode Oyelade confirmed to PUNCH Healthwise that Omenka was caught after doctors who conducted the interview discovered he did not have full knowledge of the profession.

He said the doctors that drilled the suspect during the job interview, discovered many discrepancies in the credentials presented.

Oyelade revealed that when some of the hospitals where the suspect claimed to have worked were contacted, Omenka was identified as a health assistant by his former employees.

He said, “The man actually applied to work as a medical officer at Covenant University Medical Centre where students, staff and some residents of the community go for medical treatment.

“Immediately they got his application, and the medical director discovered that the CV and certificates presented were questionable, being a medical doctor himself, he contacted me. I told him to invite the guy for an interview. The interview was scheduled and it was conducted on Wednesday at the office of the MD.

“We made the guy very comfortable and we started asking him a series of questions. He gave us a background history of himself and all the places he had worked. We now asked him if he attended a university, and he said he went to Benue State University.

“We asked him about the courses he did in the university, and he was just saying things he knew nothing about. We discovered in the course of our interview that he has an idea because he has worked in some hospitals as an auxiliary nurse.

“In fact, he had worked at the hospital owned by some of our colleagues that we know. We put a call across to them and two of them actually confirmed that they knew him very well. I told them he was trying to apply as a medical officer, and they told me he worked with them as an auxiliary nurse or better put, as a hospital assistant.”

On how he was caught, Oyelade explained, “ What gave him up were the certificates he presented. Omenka presented a photocopied certificate he claimed to have obtained from the university with a Second Upper Division in Medicine and Surgery.

“If you are conversant with a medical certificate, you will know there is nothing like grade. When you are given a certificate as a doctor, it will just be specified that you have passed when you certify the examiner. There is nothing like first class or second class. Our certificate is not graded. Immediately, he presented that, and we knew it was fake.

“He also presented a certificate he claimed to have got from MDCN, we saw that one and we just laughed. The registration number is 11,641. I graduated 32 years ago from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and my number is 20, 815. And someone who claimed to have graduated in 2015 is 11,000, which means he graduated before me. I am sure that some of the people with that number are dead now.

“We called one of the doctors again and he told us that this is not the first time he would be involved in such a thing.”

Oyelade further revealed that the suspect had been handed over to the police at Onipanu Police Station, Ota in Ogun State.

He added that the association would ensure the suspect is charged to court and made to face the full wrath of the law to serve as a deterrent to others.

Reacting, the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Ogun State Chapter, Dr. Azim Kunle Ashimi advised heads of hospitals, both private and public to be very vigilant when employing doctors, adding that proper background checks should be carried out.

He also reiterated the commitment of the ANPMP and Nigerian Medical Association in Ogun State to collaborate with the state ministry of health to stamp out quackery in the state.

The United Kingdom Health Security Agency, UKHSA, on Friday detected the first case of COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 in the country.

UKHSA in a statement on its website, UKHSA disclosed that the new COVID-19 variant was detected in an individual with no recent travel history.

Dr Meera Chand, the Deputy Director of UKHSA said “We are aware of a confirmed case in the UK. We will provide further information in due course after undertaking detailed assessment.”

On Thursday, the US health authorities

and the World Health Organisation, WHO said they were closely monitoring a new variant of Covid-19.

Although, the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown as WHO designated the virus as a ‘variant under monitoring’ following the large number of mutations it carries.

The BA.2.86 variant has also been identified in Denmark, Israel and the USA.