By our Correspondent
While the world celebrates International Women’s Day with awards and ceremonies, Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe took a different route this year: walking the quiet, sterile corridors of Kuje General Hospital to honor the women who trade their beds for plastic chairs to nurse the sick.
Dr. Fasawe, the Mandate Secretary for the FCTA Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES), described these mothers and caregivers as the “unsung heroes” of the healthcare system—women whose sacrifices often go unnoticed by the public eye but are felt deeply by those in pain.
“Giving to Gain”: A Tribute to Sacrifice
Aligning with the 2026 International Women’s Day theme, “Giving to Gain,” Dr. Fasawe’s visit was a raw acknowledgment of the physical and emotional toll caregiving takes on women.
“These women are the quiet pillars of strength in our hospitals,” Dr. Fasawe remarked during her visit. “They trade their warm beds for plastic chairs. They exchange the comfort of their kitchens for hospital corridors. They set aside their routines, their work, and often their own health simply to be present for someone they love.”
Beyond the Payroll: The Unofficial Healers
Dr. Fasawe highlighted a profound truth in the Nigerian healthcare system: while doctors and nurses provide the science, it is the mothers, sisters, and daughters who provide the soul of recovery.
She noted that although these women are not on the hospital payroll, they work tireless shifts, watching over monitors and providing the emotional anchor that medicine alone cannot replace.
“They may not be trained nurses, but they carefully watch over their loved ones,” she said. “And though they are not doctors, their presence often becomes the medicine that brings hope and strength.”
A Message to the Tired Mother
In a moving conclusion to her address, the Mandate Secretary spoke directly to the women currently sitting by hospital bedsides, offering them the recognition they rarely receive:
“To every mother who has slept on a hospital bench, skipped meals to stay by a bedside, and carried hope when others felt weary you are heroes. Not famous heroes, but the kind whose love heals in ways science cannot measure.”
The Spirit of March 8
International Women’s Day is observed globally to celebrate the achievements of women, but Dr. Fasawe’s visit served as a reminder that some of the greatest achievements happen in the vulnerability of a hospital ward, fueled by nothing but love and resilience.