DEATH OF DOCTOR UMOH & THE BRAIN DRAIN CHALLENGE .

20/09/23

About Two Months ago, Doctor Diaso Uweare died in an elevator Crash,a needless death many said could have been averted. No it Dr Michael Umoh, Who knows whose turn is next ?

According to reports, Michael died during a church service at the United Evangelical Church on September 17. He was said to have worked a 72-hour non-stop shift at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, where he was a Resident Doctor

.Doctors under the aegis of the Association of Resident Doctors, LUTH chapter, in a letter addressed to the Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Prof. Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo, attested to the fact that the young Doctor was over worked.

They claimed Michael returned home at about 3:00 a.m. Sunday after a 72-hour shift in the Hospital, adding that he had barely slept in their apartment before that day.

The statement partly read, “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 the 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 11 am.”

“His roommate attested to the fact that Umoh Michael had barely slept in their apartment over the past one week as he was always on call or the day he returned home was around 3 a.m. after surgeries and other activities in the Neurosurgery Unit.”

The Passage of Doctor Umoh brings to mind the recent Concerns of Professor Akin Osibogun of the National Postgraduate Medical College about the Urgent Need To develop Effective Retention Mechanisms to keep Medical Doctors Back Home

Osibogun who told Journalists that About five Hundred Persons are expected to graduate from the medical school during the 41st Convocation noted with dismay how the Institution has been developing man Power needs for the Sector that end up getting poched by other Countries like The United States, United Kingdom, And many other Countries .

“We were at a programme yesterday (Monday), but I will find out; I can’t say anything now. I will check the medical report of what could have happened because anybody can say anything, but the medical report will show us what happened.”