Resident doctors at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo have withdrawn all services — including at the hospital’s Akure annex — after a colleague was violently attacked on duty. Medical leaders are now warning that one more assault anywhere in Nigeria will trigger a total nationwide shutdown.
June 1, 2026 · Ondo State, Nigeria · 4 min read
Doctors at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, have shut down services across both the main hospital and its Akure annex following the brutal assault of a colleague who was attacked while attending to patients at the Accident and Emergency unit — an attack that has reignited a national conversation about the safety of Nigeria’s healthcare workers.
The victim, Dr. Adeniyi A, a registrar in the Department of Internal Medicine, had only recently returned to duty after collapsing on the job and being admitted for treatment. According to sources at the hospital, a group of individuals alleged to be relatives of a surgical patient mobilised and attacked health personnel after growing impatient over delays in the patient’s operation. Unaware of the unfolding violence, Dr. Adeniyi walked into the A&E unit and was attacked.
“This act of violence, carried out while our colleague was discharging his Hippocratic duties, is reprehensible, barbaric, and a direct assault on the medical profession and the Nigerian healthcare system.”
— NARD statement
The Association of Resident Doctors at FMC Owo convened an Emergency General Meeting and resolved to begin a 48-hour withdrawal of services effective 8pm on the day of the attack. That action has since escalated into a full shutdown of both the Owo facility and its Akure annex. NARD’s national leadership formally condemned the assault, describing it as deeply disturbing given that it occurred within a hospital — a place meant to preserve life and human dignity.
NARD’s demands
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors issued a series of firm demands: immediate compensation for the pain, trauma and suffering of the assaulted doctor; full coverage of his medical expenses; a comprehensive overhaul of security at all entry points and clinical areas within FMC Owo; and the prompt arrest and prosecution of all perpetrators. The association warned that failure to meet these demands would compel it to take all legitimate actions necessary to defend the sanctity of medical practice.
A crisis bigger than one hospital
The shutdown in Owo is not an isolated incident — it is the latest in an accelerating wave of violence against Nigeria’s healthcare workers that medical leaders say is threatening to deepen an already severe brain drain crisis.
Calls for special legislation
The NMA President, Prof. Afekhide Omoti, and NARD’s national leadership have jointly called on the National Assembly to enact dedicated laws criminalising assault on healthcare workers — going beyond the general labour protections currently in place. Prof. Omoti noted that many countries already treat attacks on health workers as aggravated offences, because violence in hospitals endangers not only staff but also patients and public safety.
NARD’s president said perpetrators have repeatedly escaped accountability — assailants apologise, the matter gets dropped, and no conviction follows. He stressed that compensation must be guaranteed for victims, some of whom ended up admitted in the same hospitals where they were attacked due to the severity of their injuries.
With classrooms already shut in Oyo State over kidnappings of teachers, and now hospital wards going dark in Ondo over attacks on doctors, the incidents underline a widening crisis of safety for public sector professionals across Nigeria.
