Nigerian medical doctors, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), yesterday, raised strong concerns regarding what it described as unwarranted assaults on doctors and health workers, citing a recent incident at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) in Akwa Ibom State.
According to a statement by the NMA, agents of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invaded the UUTH premises on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in a manner the NMA characterised as reckless and unacceptable.
The NMA statement, signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prof. Olayinka Atilola, alleged that the EFCC’s operation was not focused on apprehending a financial crime syndicate.
Instead, the NMA claims the EFCC’s target was the Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (DCMAC), Prof. Eyo Ekpe, a senior medical consultant, reports Saturday Guardian.
President of the NMA, Prof. Afekhide Ernest Omoti, who condemned the EFCC’s actions, stated that the NMA leadership is demanding an explanation of the EFCC’s actions, calling for measures to protect healthcare professionals from harassment.and intimidation while performing their duties.
The NMA described the UUTH incident as part of a disturbing trend of unwarranted targeting of medical personnel.
The NMA added that “from the official statement by Mr. Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, the reason EFCC had to resort to the arbitrariness of invading the hospital, attacking doctors and other health workers in the course of their duty and whisking the DCMAC of the hospital away into detention was because of their frustration with perceived delays in the authentication of a medical report purportedly obtained from the hospital by a certain accused person in EFCC custody.”
He added: “While the current wrongful assault of doctors and other health workers in the course of duty was by the EFCC and at UUTH, the incident itself has, unfortunately, become just another one of a growing series of attacks on doctors and other health workers across the country.
“These attacks further compound the existing burden of poor remuneration, shambolic working environment, unhealthy work load and rising global security risk in the country, which have already demotivated and alienated many doctors and health workers from the Nigerian healthcare system, hence the mass exodus to perceived greener pastures. ”
The NMA leadership maintained that, “the arrest and assault is deeply disturbing and indeed embarrassing that a government security agency of the stature of the EFCC will choose to abandon due process, professionalism, global best practice and common decency and recourse to random choice, personal whim, and primitive impulse – devoid of reason and logic – in a simple process of mere authentication of a medical report from a public hospital.”
