Nurses from the Ogun State Hospital in Ijaye, Abeokuta, along with their colleagues across the state, braved the heavy morning rain on Thursday to protest alleged assault of a final year Nursing student by a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Nurudeen Adekunle.
Adekunle allegedly slapped the unnamed student nurse in the theater on September 24.
The protesting nurses were led by the state Chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Adejoke Bello.
The nurses who chanted songs to drive home their point, also held placards with different inscriptions such as “End Bullying Of Nurses”, “Bullying Of Nurses Is Not Acceptable”, “Respect For Nurses”, and “Respect For Care, And Justice For Nurses A Must”, among others.
Speaking during the protest, Bello said the protest became imperative considering that the act was against the public rule service.
“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 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 given 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.”
The nurses demanded that the Dr Adekunle should be brought to justice in accordance with the public service rules. “We are saying, no to harassment and assault of nurses.”
The nurses were later asked to return to work while a four-hour ultimatum was issued to the management of the hospital to officially respond to their letters over the poor treatment.
In the same vein, the Unit Chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives at the State Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, Comrade Lola Idowu Falujo also condemned the action of Dr Adekunle, saying that it fell below the provisions of the public service rules.
She said, “We are out to end bullying of nurses. We are saying ‘no to all forms of assault against nurses.’ We are doing our best in this hospital to care for our patients and move the state and country forward. So, we don’t deserve any form of maltreatment.
“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.”
Falujo stressed that bullying of nurses is unacceptable and must stop while insisting that government should activate the state public service rules to handle the matter and ensure that justice is served.
The Permanent Secretary, the Hospital Management Board, Dr Olayinka Elemide who addressed the protesting nurses, said that government was aware of the situation and already taking steps to address the incident.
“The government is aware of this situation and already taking 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,” she said. (Leadership)