As attacks rise, Nigerian doctors turn to self-defense

Healthcare workers are trained to save lives, not defend themselves. But for doctors in Nigeria, learning how to treat patients is no longer enough. They now believe they must also learn how to protect themselves from the very people they are meant to heal.

That belief has prompted the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) in southern Nigeria to introduce self-defense training for doctors, a response to mounting concerns over violence against healthcare workers both within their hospital and across the country.

The initiative follows a series of violent confrontations with medical personnel, including a controversial raid by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a Nigerian anti-graft agency, at UUTH in May during which doctors were assaulted and hospital officials arrested while carrying out their duties. The EFCC initially disputed aspects of the allegations, saying its operatives were at the hospital to “facilitate the authentication of a document,” though they later apologized following pressure from the Nigeria Medical Association.

Other incidents have heightened those concerns. Earlier this month, a resident doctor at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital was assaulted by a patient’s relative, while another doctor was attacked in June at the Mother and Child Hospital in Mowe, Ogun State. In Delta State, a doctor who was brutally beaten in April at Central Hospital, Warri, later died from his injuries. All three attacks followed the deaths of patients.

In June 2026, Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) revealed that about 21 cases of assaults affecting about 30 resident doctors  were reported in the past one year. NARD said the increasing wave of attacks reflects a disturbing national trend.

Research also reflects the problem. A 2023 study assessing workplace violence on doctors and nurses at the accident and emergency department at the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital found that 72.5% of the respondents had been victims of assault at work,  out of which 86.5% experienced verbal abuse while 13.5% experienced physical violence. Patient relatives accounted for 83.8% of the perpetrators of the violence.

The study also shed light on what often triggers such incidents. Perceived poor communication between healthcare workers and patients’ relatives was the most frequently cited cause of violence, accounting for 41.2% of reported cases. Other common triggers included the death of patients (29.4%), lack of medical equipment (25.5%) and delays in attending to patients (21.6%). Less frequently cited factors included the perceived attitude of healthcare workers, the personality of perpetrators and the absence of healthcare workers, each accounting for 7.8% of cases.

At its Ordinary General Meeting in June, NARD expressed grave concern over the rising cases of harassment, intimidation and violent incidents against doctors on duty, describing the trend as unacceptable and a threat to Nigeria’s already fragile healthcare system. The association gave the federal government a 21-day ultimatum to begin implementing a national healthcare workers assault prevention and response protocol while calling for legislation to better protect healthcare workers.

A workout with a new purpose

While NARD pushed for national reforms, doctors in Uyo decided they also needed practical ways to protect themselves. Dr. Ekomobong Udoh, president of ARD at UUTH, said the association’s monthly fitness sessions gradually evolved into something more practical as attacks became more common.

“We used to have our monthly workout and exercise as an association, but decided to add kickboxing for self-defense due to the rising incidence of workplace assault in our hospital and also nationwide,” Udoh told the New York Amsterdam News.

What began as a routine fitness session has evolved into something few doctors ever expected to need: preparation for physical confrontation.

ARD UUTH intends to make the training sessions a recurring program. “The vice president, who coordinates the program, reached out to me to see if it could be sustained, and I totally loved the idea,” Udoh said.

When contacted, ARD UUTH Vice President, Dr. Vivian Ukejung, invited the New York Amsterdam News to attend the next edition of the training scheduled for August.  “We would be having another next month in front of the hospital you can come (sic),” she stated.

Reacting to the initiative on X, NARD President Dr. Muhammad Suleiman described it as a sobering reflection of the realities facing doctors in Nigeria. He suggested that violence on healthcare workers had escalated to a point where physicians now saw self-defense as necessary. He added that he would personally take part in the training.

“Desperate times require desperate measures”

The training has resonated beyond Uyo, particularly among younger doctors. For Dr. Bode Oyedokun, a newly qualified physician, learning that self-defense had become part of workplace preparation was more unsettling than reassuring.

“It was a feeling of worry about what practice has become,” he said. “No one could have imagined we would require self-defense to defend ourselves against people we are meant to care for. They are meant to be our protectors.”

He said recent attacks have fundamentally changed how safe doctors feel at work. “One has to constantly look over their shoulder when on the ward or in the clinic now,” Oyedokun said. “As you are trying to discharge your duty, you are at the same time trying to look out for violent tendencies, so it can be distracting.”

The violence, he added, is also shaping career decisions. “I have always favored laboratory medicine because those are specialties where I won’t be required to regularly interface with patients,” he said. “Apart from that, most doctors don’t want to practice here. If considered well, this violence could form part of the push factors driving doctors and other healthcare workers out of the Nigerian health system.”

While some may question whether physicians should be learning kickboxing at all, Oyedokun believes they have little choice. “Desperate times require desperate measures,” he said. “Doctors must do everything to protect themselves. If the system that’s supposed to protect them has failed, then they need to take their fate into their own hands.”

Still, he stressed that self-defense should complement, not replace, stronger institutional protections. “There should be frameworks on such assault that protect doctors. These should include adequate compensation and, most importantly, prosecution of perpetrators.

Beyond self-defense

Hospital authorities at UUTH have introduced additional security measures following previous incidents, according to Udoh. He said management has strengthened security around high-risk areas, including the Accident and Emergency Department, labor ward, children’s emergency unit and busy outpatient clinics.

The resident doctors’ association has also adopted its own policy on assault that is activated whenever an attack occurs. Despite those efforts, Udoh believes broader legal reforms are still needed.

“Policy legislation on workplace assault by the state and national assemblies,” he said, remains one of the most important next steps.

Similar calls are being made at the national level. While acknowledging significant progress in engagements with relevant stakeholders, NARD recently said the ministerial committee established to address assaults against healthcare workers had substantially concluded its assignment. 

The association has urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to urgently release and begin implementing the committee’s report without further delay, arguing that stronger institutional protections remain essential to safeguarding healthcare workers.

For many doctors, the issue extends beyond individual confrontations. It reflects growing concern about whether healthcare workers can safely carry out their duties in an already overstretched health system.

As violence against medical personnel continues to draw national attention, the image of doctors practicing kickboxing instead of simply discussing patient care illustrates a profession adapting to risks few expected to face.

For Oyedokun, that reality remains difficult to accept. He said doctors entered medicine to save lives, not to prepare for physical confrontation. Yet until stronger protections become a reality, many believe they must be ready to do both.

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