The death of Dr. Salome Oboyi, a senior registrar at Bingham University Teaching Hospital (BHUTH) in Jos, has raised alarm over the safety of healthcare workers in Nigeria. Dr. Oboyi, who worked in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, contracted Lassa fever while treating a patient and died on February 2.
In a statement on February 5, President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Mohammad Suleiman, described Dr. Oboyi’s passing as “tragic and untimely,” attributing it to systemic weaknesses in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
He noted that many doctors operate in high-risk conditions with insufficient personal protective equipment, weak infection control measures, delayed disease diagnosis, and inadequate occupational health support.
NARD stressed that handling Lassa fever is inherently dangerous, often carried out in facilities with limited resources and minimal safeguards. The association called on government authorities at all levels to recognise Oboyi’s death as an occupational hazard and provide immediate compensation for her family, warning that failure to do so would be “a grave injustice”.
The association also demanded urgent improvements in workplace safety, stronger infection prevention systems, functional health insurance, and reliable support for healthcare workers who die in the line of duty.
Oboyi’s death comes as Nigeria faces a rising number of Lassa fever cases, including infections among medical staff.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) reported that, by the third week of 2026, four healthcare workers had been infected, compared with 24 in 2025. So far, the country has recorded 405 suspected cases, 93 confirmed infections across nine states, and 17 deaths, giving a case fatality rate of 18.1 percent.
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