Nigerian doctors in UK lament exploitation, slave labour

Nigerian medical doctors and their counterparts from developing countries working in the United Kingdom have lamented exploitation in the course of their work. (Read More Here).

This was revealed by BBC on Tuesday adding that an investigation proved that Nigerian doctors recruited by a British healthcare company are expected to work in private hospitals under conditions not allowed in the National Health Service (NHS).

BBC spoke to several foreign medical practitioners and one of them was a young Nigerian doctor, Augustine Enekwechi who worked at the private Nuffield Health Leeds Hospital in 2021.

Enekwechi said his working hours were extreme – on 24 hours a day for a week at a time. He claimed he was unable to leave the hospital grounds, adding that the working environment looked like “a prison.”

The doctor further said the challenges could pose health risks to patients in the hospital.

“I knew that working tired puts the patients at risk and puts myself also at risk, as well for litigation,” Enekwechi said. “I felt powerless… helpless, you know, constant stress and thinking something could go wrong.”

“I knew that working tired puts the patients at risk and puts myself also at risk, as well for litigation,” he says. “I felt powerless… helpless, you know, constant stress and thinking something could go wrong,” BBC quoted him as saying.

The British Medical Association, however, described the situation as “shocking” and say the sector needs to be in line with the NHS working practices.

Another doctor, Dr. Femi Johnson, who worked at another hospital said he was also expected to work 14 to 16-hour days and then be on call overnight.

“I was burnt out,” he says. “I was tired, I needed sleep. It’s not humanly possible to do that every day for seven days.”

Johnson added that when he needed a break, the NES was entitled to deduct money from his salary to cover the cost of finding a replacement doctor.

“In situations like that, I always make that internal discussion with my inner self – ‘Femi are you doing right by yourself and are you doing right by the patient?’” he told BBC. “Unfortunately, I haven’t always been able to answer that question.”

The BMA and the front line lobbying group the Doctors’ Association has given the BBC’s File on 4 and Newsnight exclusive access to the findings of a questionnaire put to 188 Resident Medical Officers. Most of the doctors were employed by NES but some were with other employers.

Enekwechi said he was preparing for the stage 2 of Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board test (PLAB) when he was approached by NES Healthcare and later offered visa sponsorship and a potential job.

Another doctor, Femi Johnson, also shared his own experience in his place of work where he is expected to work between 14 and 16 hours a day and be on call overnight.

“I was burnt out,” he says. “I was tired, I needed sleep. It’s not humanly possible to do that every day for seven days.”

But when he needed a break because he was too exhausted to continue, NES were entitled to deduct money from his salary. The company says that is to cover the cost of finding a replacement doctor, but Femi says it leaves NES doctors in a terrible dilemma.

“In situations like that, I always make that internal discussion with my inner self – ‘Femi are you doing right by yourself and are you doing right by the patient?’” he tells us. “Unfortunately, I haven’t always been able to answer that question.”

Some NES doctors have received help from Dr Jenny Vaughan from the Doctors’ Association. She receives many complaints from Resident Medical Officers and says the UK healthcare system has developed into two tiers – one for NHS doctors, the other for international recruits working in the private sector.

NHS doctors can only be scheduled to work up to 48 hours, and if they request, up to 72 hours a week.

“No doctor in the NHS does more than four nights consecutively because we know that it’s frankly not safe,” says Dr Vaughan.

“This is a slave-type work with… excess hours, the like of which we thought had been gone 30 years ago.

“It is not acceptable for patients for patient-safety reasons. It is not acceptable for doctors. ”