• Strike continues until welfare issues are resolved, says ARD
• Doctors hold key to stopping next Ebola outbreak, Sanwo-Olu, NCDC
reiterate

Healthcare services at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) remained disrupted as the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) entered its eighth day of industrial action yesterday.

The strike, initiated in compliance with a directive from the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), comes after prolonged but unsuccessful attempts to resolve severe welfare concerns with the LUTH management.

The ARD, during a media briefing yesterday, outlined two primary and non-negotiable demands: the immediate completion of the Resident Doctors’ Quarters and restoration of call duty meals.

The Association said that for over 18 months, an uncompleted renovation project had denied LUTH resident doctors access to their residential quarters.

They said that resident doctors routinely work continuous shifts that extend beyond 24 hours, often working overnight to attend to critical emergencies.

The association revealed that this prolonged delay had forced many doctors—some of whom commute long distances across Lagos—to sleep in their cars, hospital lounges, and other unsuitable locations while continuing to provide essential healthcare services.

The association, therefore, called on the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate; the Minister of State for Health, Dr IziaqSalako, and other well-meaning Nigerians to step in.

The doctors warned that without immediate intervention to restore basic working conditions, the disruption of healthcare services at LUTH would persist.

The ARD noted that it remains committed to constructive dialogue and hopes for a speedy resolution to the crisis.

MEANWHILE, Lagos State First Lady, Dr IbijokeSanwo-Olu, has called for sustained investment in disease surveillance, healthcare infrastructure and emergency preparedness to protect Nigerians from future public health threats, even as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) warned that frontline doctors would determine whether the country prevents another Ebola outbreak.

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke, yesterday, during the opening of the 2026 yearly general meeting and scientific conference of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Lagos State branch, said the lessons from the Ebola epidemic, COVID-19 pandemic and other emerging infectious diseases underscored the need for stronger collaboration, scientific innovation and continuous investment in the health sector.

She, however, reaffirmed Lagos State Government’s commitment to strengthening healthcare infrastructure, human capital development, digital health innovations, disease surveillance and emergency response systems under the THEMES+ development agenda.

In the keynote address, Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, warned that Nigeria could not afford complacency despite its successful containment of Ebola in 2014, saying that the country remains vulnerable because of increasing international travel and the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Idris, who was represented by Dr OlukitanJinadu, said that although Nigeria has strengthened its preparedness, the country’s greatest defence remains the vigilance of frontline health workers.

Chairman of the occasion, Prof. Akin Osibogun, said Nigeria’s successful containment of Ebola in 2014 remains one of the country’s greatest public health achievements and a model for responding to future outbreaks.

Also, Chairman of the NMA Lagos State branch, Dr BabajideSaheed, said preventing Nigeria’s next Ebola index case requires preparedness rather than luck.