Healthcare services at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) remained disrupted on Monday as the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) entered the eighth day of its industrial action.
The strike, embarked upon in compliance with a directive from the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), followed unsuccessful efforts to resolve longstanding welfare concerns with the hospital’s management.
Addressing journalists, the ARD said its members would not suspend the strike until two key demands were met: the completion of the Resident Doctors’ Quarters and the restoration of call duty meals.
According to the association, resident doctors have been unable to access their accommodation for more than 18 months because renovation works remain incomplete.
It noted that resident doctors routinely work shifts lasting more than 24 hours, often remaining on duty overnight to attend to emergency cases.
The association said the prolonged delay had forced many doctors, some of whom commute long distances within Lagos, to sleep in their cars, hospital lounges and other unsuitable locations while continuing to provide essential healthcare services.
The doctors called on the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, and other stakeholders to intervene.
They warned that healthcare disruption at the hospital would continue unless urgent steps were taken to address their welfare concerns, while reaffirming their commitment to dialogue and a peaceful resolution of the dispute.
Meanwhile, health experts have called for greater investment in disease surveillance and emergency preparedness to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to respond to future outbreaks.
Speaking at the opening of the 2026 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State branch, the First Lady of Lagos State, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, said the lessons of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic and other emerging infectious diseases highlighted the need for stronger collaboration, scientific innovation and sustained investment in the health sector.
She reaffirmed the Lagos State Government’s commitment to strengthening healthcare infrastructure, human capital development, digital health innovation, disease surveillance and emergency response systems under its THEMES+ development agenda.
In the keynote address, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, warned that Nigeria could not afford complacency despite successfully containing the Ebola outbreak in 2014.
Represented by Dr Olukitan Jinadu, Idris said the country remained vulnerable because of increasing international travel and the continuing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Although Nigeria had significantly improved its preparedness, he said the country’s strongest defence against another outbreak remained the vigilance of frontline healthcare workers.
Chairman of the occasion, Professor Akin Osibogun, described Nigeria’s successful containment of Ebola in 2014 as one of the country’s greatest public health achievements and a model for responding to future disease outbreaks.
Also speaking, Chairman of the NMA Lagos State branch, Dr Babajide Saheed, said preventing Nigeria’s next Ebola index case would depend on sustained preparedness rather than luck.
