Fellow Nurses Africa News || Lagos, Nigeria || 26 June, 2025.
At 07:06 PM BST on Thursday, June 26, 2025, a contentious TikTok video has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s healthcare community, featuring an individual identified as Dr. Abba Shuaibu Mahmud, who presents himself as a medical doctor. In the video, delivered in Hausa, he addresses a surge of patient complaints regarding mistreatment within hospital settings.
Mahmud asserts that medical doctors, guided by the principles of medical ethics, maintain an exemplary standard of care, engaging with patients with professionalism and compassion. He shifts blame to nurses, particularly junior staff, whom he describes as “our children/boys,” alleging they are responsible for unprofessional conduct such as shouting during routine duties like administering medications, injections, or minor dressings. He further claims that doctors’ roles are limited to building therapeutic rapport and facilitating patient discharge.
The video escalates dramatically as Mahmud advises patients to “retaliate” if nurses raise their voices, suggesting nurses are “not up to your level” and absolving doctors of any culpability. This provocative statement has ignited a robust backlash from nurses across the nation, who have taken to social media platforms to refute his assertions, defending their dedication to patient care standards and decrying the remarks as unfounded and detrimental to inter-professional harmony.
The situation took a significant turn with an official statement from the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) Rasheed Shekoni Federal University Teaching Hospital Dutse Branch, issued earlier today. The association disclosed that the individual is not a licensed medical practitioner but a 500-level medical student at the Federal University, Dutse.
NANNM denounced his statements as “derogatory, misleading, and unprofessional,” characterizing them as a deliberate attempt to garner social media attention through falsehoods and unethical commentary. The organization views this as an act of misinformation and public defamation, pledging a thorough investigation to ensure accountability while appealing to the public to uphold respect for the nursing profession, a vital pillar of healthcare excellence.
This revelation has amplified the controversy, prompting scrutiny of social media credibility within the healthcare sector and raising concerns about the impact on nurse morale. Amidst challenges such as staffing shortages and global migration trends, Nigerian nurses feel unjustly targeted, with some advocating for enhanced regulations on healthcare-related online content. The incident underscores ongoing dialogues about workplace respect and collaboration within the medical community.
This episode highlights the dual-edged nature of digital platforms in influencing perceptions of healthcare professionals. NANNM’s resolute response reaffirms their commitment to safeguarding the profession’s integrity, though the repercussions may persist as nurses seek redress. With the investigation in progress, the healthcare community awaits the outcome of this TikTok saga, which may shape future guidelines for professional conduct in the digital era.
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