Wakawaka Doctor phone torch surgery in Nigeria
A Nigerian doctor known online as “Wakawaka Doctor” has spoken out about deeply troubling experiences in hospitals across Nigeria, drawing attention to how often medical staff have to rely on phone torches or other inadequate lighting to treat patients. These stories illustrate dangerous failures in infrastructure and the urgent need for reform. The following outlines what has been shared, how bad conditions have become, and what doctors are saying must change.
In one hospital, the assistant surgeon’s first operation as part of a surgical team was performed in near‐darkness because lights and power failed. The room lacked proper surgical lighting, so a phone torch was held by an assistant to help see while stitching. The doctor posted about it online saying that this is part of life in Nigeria’s health system. The post stirred strong reaction, as many questioned how safe it is to conduct surgery without proper lighting. This incident reflects the poor state of hospital facilities in several parts of the country.
At University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, doctors were once forced to use phone torches to administer medication and monitor patients during a 109-day stretch of darkness when both power and backup energy failed. A medical student reported that a patient who needed a chest tube to relieve fluid from the lungs could not be treated overnight because lighting was insufficient. The makers of the hospital’s solar power system say it was not functioning, and backup generators were unavailable. By morning, the patient had passed away.
“Wakawaka Doctor,” whose real name is hidden for privacy, also explained that while working in Nigeria, he and his colleagues saw 100-200 patients a day under extremely difficult conditions. Salaries were very low—sometimes less than one hundred dollars monthly—and many doctors felt overworked and undervalued. The combination of heavy workload, lack of essential tools, erratic power, and poor welfare pushes many professionals to consider or accept jobs abroad.
Pro-health-care activists and medical associations have commented that such situations are not exceptions but increasingly normal in many public hospitals. The failure to maintain basic infrastructure, frequent power outages, broken or obsolete imaging machines like MRI, and insufficient lighting all contribute to delayed diagnoses, preventable deaths, and medical staff burnout. Many doctors feel they are performing miracles under adverse conditions.
Wakawaka Doctor argues that these stories should not just shock the public but force structural changes. He calls for government investment in reliable hospital power supply, enforcement of backup systems, fair and timely pay, access to modern diagnostic tools, and improved working conditions. Without these, he says, Nigeria’s hospitals will continue to let down both patients and the health workers who try to save lives.
