Resident doctors threaten nationwide strike over Senate bill to jail health workers for emergency care delays

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has warned that it could call a nationwide strike if the Senate goes ahead with a bill that would allow health workers to be jailed for delays in emergency care.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Abdulaziz Yar'Adua (Katsina Central), seeks to amend the National Health Act 2014. It would require hospitals, both public and private, to assess emergency patients within 15 minutes of arrival and give basic life-saving care, such as oxygen, drip fluids and pain relief, within 30 minutes. Breaking the rules could cost a health worker or hospital as much as ₦300,000, six months behind bars, or both. The bill passed its second reading and has been sent to the Senate health committee for a public hearing.

NARD said it supports faster emergency care but rejects the criminal penalties. It argued that many delays are caused by problems doctors cannot control, including poor funding, broken equipment and too few staff. "You cannot legislate oxygen into an empty cylinder," the association said.

The doctors warned that threatening them with jail would push even more of them to leave Nigeria for jobs abroad. They want the punishment clauses removed and proper consultation with health workers, hospital managers and patient groups.

NARD said its leadership would meet to consider all lawful options, including industrial action, if the bill is passed in its current form, but promised that emergency and critically ill patients would be protected in any strike. No date has been set.