Nurses at the Ogun State Hospital in Ijaye, Abeokuta, supported by colleagues from other parts of the state, braved heavy rain on Thursday to protest the alleged assault of a final-year student nurse by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr Nurudeen Adekunle.
Naija News gathered that the incident reportedly occurred on September 24 when Dr Adekunle allegedly slapped the student nurse in the theatre.
Despite efforts to resolve the issue through government channels, the nurses claim no meaningful progress has been made.
Led by the state Chairperson of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Adejoke Bello, the protesters carried placards with messages such as “End Bullying of Nurses,” “Respect for Nurses,” and “Justice for Nurses.”
Their demonstration aimed to call attention to the alleged misconduct and demand action.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Bello explained the reasons behind the protest: “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.
“We demand that the culprit, Dr Adekunle Nurudeen must be brought to justice according to the public service rules. We are saying no to harassment and assault of nurses.
“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.”
Unit Chairperson of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives at the hospital, Lola Idowu Falujo, echoed Bello’s sentiments, condemning Dr Adekunle’s actions.
Falujo noted that if the hospital management had responded promptly, there might not have been a need for the protest. She called on the government to enforce the state’s public service rules to ensure justice is served.
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 condemned 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.
“We wrote the the management of the hospital and the government since Friday but we have heard nothing, if they have decided to get back to us there may not be the need for this peaceful protest.
“This is unacceptable and we are saying that bullying of nurses must stop. We therefore want the government to activate the state public service rules to handle this matter and ensure that justice is served.”
Addressing the protesters, the Permanent Secretary of the Hospital Management Board, Dr Olayinka Elemide, assured the nurses that the government is aware of the issue and is already taking steps to ensure that due process is followed.
“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,” he said.
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