On Thursday, nurses at the Ogun State Hospital in Ijaye, Abeokuta, protested the alleged assault of a final-year nursing student by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Dr. Adekunle Nurudeen.
The nurses who defied the rain, chanting various songs, were armed with placards carrying inscriptions such as “End bullying of nurses, “End nurses brutality, bullying of nurses is not acceptable, “Zero tolerance for nurses bullying, “Respect for nurses, Respect for care”, “Justice for nurses, a must”, among others.
They alleged that on September 24, Nurudeen, a staff with the hospital, reportedly slapped the student nurse at the theatre, and despite attempts to seek reparation from the government, no positive outcome was gotten.
Daily Post reports that the nurses were joined by their colleagues from different parts of the state for the demonstration.
They explained that the protest is to register their grievance and displeasure over the unethical practice of the Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon.
The protesting nurses led by the state Chairman of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Comr Adejoke Bello, explained that the assault is against the public service rules and demanded that the culprit must be brought to justice.
She said, “The peaceful demonstration is to register our dissatisfaction and displeasure over an unethical practice of a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon with Ogun State Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, Nurudeen Adekunle who slapped a final year student nurse precisely on September 24.
“This is assault and it is against the public rule service, this should not have happened under whatever circumstances. It is a gross misconduct for you to have slapped your subordinate at work. So we are here to say that the entire nurses in Ogun State won’t tolerate this.
“This ordinarily should not have degenerated to this level of protest but we have written to the appropriate quarters since last Monday and gave them 48 hours to address this unfortunate incident but we have heard nothing from them, especially the management of this Hospital, they have not called us, so we are left with no choice than to mobilise for this peaceful protest.
“We have told our nurses to go back to work but we have given the management of the hospital four hours to get back to us in black and white just as we have equally done to register our dissatisfaction over the poor treatment.”
Lola Falujo, the Unit Chairman of NANNM, State Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, expressed her displeasure over the alleged incident, stressing that all sort of nurses bullying and threats must end.
Falujo said: “We condemn the action of Dr Adekunle who assaulted one of our student nurses and was even threatening him saying that if he heard anything about the incident outside he would ensure that the student won’t graduate.”
Addressing the protesters, the Permanent Secretary, Hospital Management Board, Dr Olayinka Elemide, said the government is aware of the situation and already taking steps to address the incident.
Elemide said, “The government is aware of this situation and already making steps to ensure that due process is followed. The doctor and the student nurse are both in the care of the government, so we are on top of the situation.”
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Ogun State Nurses Protest Assault of Final Year Nursing Student