NMA Warns Against Attacking Health Workers

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ogun Chapter has warned against attacking its health workers.

Dr Kunle Ashimi, the NMA Chairman, gave the warning during a news conference on Wednesday in Abeokuta, and also urged patients and their relations to channel their complaints to appropriate quarters.

He said that the patient or relative should express their grievances to appropriate quarters and avoid attacking doctors.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Dr Pelumi Somorin and a nurse at the Federal Medical Center, Abeokuta were attacked on Tuesday by relatives of a patient who died in the hospital.

Ashimi described the attack as unacceptable, adding that his member had faced numerous attacks by patients or their relatives in the course of discharging their duties.

Recounting the incident, Ashimi said: "Around 4 am, I received a distress call from the federal medical centre Abeokuta concerning an event that occurred there.

“A 53-year-old woman with a severe form of heart failure which in itself after all the investigations, including the one she brought from the centre showed that it will take more than a miracle for this woman to survive.

“This was explained to the relatives when they brought in the patient and we feel that we will do our best and see what happens.

“Unfortunately this particular patient gave up the ghost just around 2 am and the next thing that the husband and her son did was to attack the doctor that have been taking care of this patient.

“When the news of her death was broken to them, the doctor received a slap each from these two individuals and subsequently they attacked her but she was only saved by people around.

“In spite of the presence of the police, the young son of the late woman went ahead to assault a nurse.

“He was eventually taken to Kemta Police Station with his father where statements were taken from them as well as the assaulted doctor and the witnesses around."

Ashimi said the association is willing to take the culprits to court to serve as a deterrent to others in the habit of bearing their frustration on medical personnel.

“We have decided that this will be the last one; we will not stop at pleadings.

"We have decided to take this case to the court, and we shall be in the court tomorrow," he said.

He appealed to all hospital users and the public to desist from attacking medical personnel.

“We’ll go to any length to prosecute such persons and we will not accept the pleading of anybody no matter highly placed,” he added.