Nigerian medical Doctors and health practitioners have been advised to take their personal health well being seriously as they stand in the line as savers for others who need proper medical attention.
Senator Dayo Faduyile gave this counsel while speaking at the FCT Abuja 2026 PHYSICIANS WEEK NMA, on the topic: Saving the savers, promoting physicians well being, preventing Burnout, Cardiovascular Disease and premature death, noted that medical Doctors in their bid to save patients often tend to forget themselves and get carried away in the business of providing healthcare for a horde of patients on daily basis.
He stressed that House officers, Chief Residents, Medical Officers and physicians who balance clinical works with teaching and also have home responsibilities must create time to attend to their own health to avoid being burnt out.
The professor of pathology and Forensic medicine maintained that in order to make savers in the health sector have the consciousness about how seriously they also matter in the healthcare chain, the Hippocratic oath has changed to now read “I will attend to my own health in order to be in perfect health to attend to other people’s health”.
The Ondo South representative said it is quite unfortunate that nowadays, Doctors and Healers now abandon themselves while focusing on others even as he indicated that the theme of the 2026 edition of PHYSICIANS WEEK, FCT Abuja is very apt as it addresses securing the future of medicare in Nigeria, stressing that if the future of medicine must be secured, everything bordering on ensuring good welfare for Doctors, provision of Health insurance scheme must be properly factored into the scheme of things.
Faduyile maintained that the time has come for medical professionals to ponder on what type of healthcare system they intend to leave for future generations, reminding them that the future of medicine does not depend only on scientific breakthroughs and technological advancement but also on the welfare of health professionals and both government and individual professionals must make this concern a priority.
While listing causes of burnout factors, such as high workload, financial pressure and symptoms of burnout as persistent fatigue, headache, reduced empathy, reduced sense of efficacy, Senator Faduyile said a physician who is physically exhausted, emotionally depleted, chronically stressed and personally neglected cannot indefinitely provide the quality of care patients deserve.
The federal lawmaker told his colleague Doctors that the job of saving savers is bifocal hence the need for Doctors to do a health check up regularly on themselves, insisting that burnout for any medical Doctor is not a badge of honour.
Faduyile called the attention of the Nigerian Doctors to premature death phenomenon which is becoming rampant among medical Professionals, adding that the stress of the workplace, has led to Cardiovascular challenge in some people while in others, it is acute depression giving rise to premature deaths.
Senator Faduyile charged savers in the health profession to make it a point of duty to also save themselves even as they show commitment to saving others.
