Nurses from Ogun State Hospital and other parts of the state protested the alleged assault of a final-year nursing student by Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Nurudeen Adekunle.
Adekunle, a hospital staff member, reportedly slapped the student nurse, prompting the protest.
Led by Adejoke Bello, state chairman of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, protesters used songs and placards to express grievances.
The protesters sought government action against Adekunle.
“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.
Speaking with our correspondent, Bello stated, “The peaceful demonstration is to register our dissatisfaction and displeasure over the 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 but to mobilise for this peaceful protest.
“We demand that the culprit, Dr Adekunle Nurudeen, 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.”
Subsequently, the Unit Chairman of NANNM, State Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, Lola Idowu Falujo, also condemned the action of the doctor, noting that it fell below the provisions of the public service rules.
Falujo 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 wouldn’t graduate.
“We wrote to the management of the hospital and the government since Friday but we have heard nothing. Maybe if they have decided to get back to us, there may not be a 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.”
The Permanent Secretary, Hospital Management Board, Dr. Mrs. Olayinka Elemide, assured the protesters that the government is aware of the situation and taking steps to address the incident.
Elemide highlighted, “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.”
