Nigeria is currently battling an alarming doctor-to-patient ratio, with roughly one doctor available for every 4,000 to 5,000 citizens-a far cry from the World Health Organization’s recommended standard of one doctor per 600 people. Now, a kidnapping crisis is taking a direct toll on this fragile baseline. When a single medical professional is abducted, thousands of patients instantly lose access to care, accelerating the collapse of a healthcare system already reeling from mass emigration and systemic underfunding.
Data from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition highlights that 91 health workers were kidnapped and 15 killed across 101 separate incidents between 2023 and 2025 alone. Bandits and organized criminal networks increasingly view medical personnel as high-value, vulnerable targets who can be snatched for ransom. The violence has gained prominence after the May 2026 midnight abduction of community health worker ‘Dr. Ebi’ (Omo Kemuna) and his wife in Kogi State, alongside a separate mass kidnapping of more than 20 medical doctors and a house officer.
The constant threat of violence is turning a demanding profession into a daily gamble with death. Roland Igbakpa, a medical practitioner, warned that doctors are now viewed as soft targets, stressing that the medical community’s patience is wearing thin as colleagues remain in captivity for months.
‘Injury to one is injury to all. Doctors should not be targets of kidnapping,’ Igbakpa said.
‘It is not safe for us to be in this country anymore,’ Sanusi Rufai, a health worker at the El-shadai Diagnostic Centre in Abuja said, urging the government to take urgent steps to protect lives and property, particularly healthcare workers who often travel at odd hours to attend to emergencies.
Rufai noted that every health worker removed from the system places additional pressure on those remaining, particularly in hospitals already operating with inadequate staffing.
Akeem Akintayo, a former Head of Clinical Services at the Federal Medical Centre, Mararaba, in Nasarawa State, said the government must intensify efforts to secure the release of abducted health workers and prevent similar incidents.
According to him, the immediate priority should be to ensure that abducted medical personnel return safely to their families and workplaces.
He said the broader objective must be to tackle insecurity in a manner that allows doctors and other health workers to concentrate on their primary responsibility of saving lives.