There is a palaver at the National Hospital, Abuja, as a doctor is said to have slapped a nurse.
It is further alleged that the accused might be drunk at the time he took the alleged action.
The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), FCT Chapter, is thus demanding justice over the said assault on its member, Nurse Ebalu Marvis of the hospital.
The Chairman of the association, Comrade Deborah Yusuf, while briefing newsmen on Friday in Abuja, alleged that Dr Atinko-Sunday Ikeya of the same hospital assaulted Marvis, while undertaking a responsibility at the hospital.
The chairman alleged that on June 13, Ikeya disregarded every medical and professional code of conduct to physically and verbally assault the nurse working as a colleague with him at the hospital.
According to Yusuf, the accused medical doctor insisted that the nurse had to leave the patient she was attending to, to dress the wound of another patient at the female medical ward.
She stated that the explanation of Nurse Marvis to the doctor that she was attending to a patient on Naso Gastric tube feeding fell on deaf ears.
“Atinko walked into the ward and asked, ‘Madam, are you the one managing this patient? Why is this patient’s wound not dressed?” She told him that it was the O and G doctors that do dress the wound.
“The doctors earlier came around few minutes before then for the dressing but the patient was in the dialysis unit, moreover the dressing pack was not available.
“Dr Atinko started shouting at her saying, ‘Madam, come and do this patient’s dressing now.’ Ukamaka Godwin’s relative replied that the doctors in O and G department said they would be doing the dressing.
“The nurse added that it was the O and G doctors that dressed the wound the previous day, but if he insisted let him document.
“Instead of documentation he then went close to her and said, ‘Madam, I said you should go now and do the dressing,’ but she told him that that was a medication trolley and besides dressing pack was not available.
“Atinko went ahead, accosted Marvis who was at the point of wheeling a medication trolley out of the ward. The next thing that followed can only be imagined as a horrendous scene in a horror film as he slapped her,” Yusuf said.
The chairman stated that the nurse replied the doctor by asking from him what she had done to warrant the slap, and tha,t at that point, the nurse perceived the smell of alcohol from her attacker.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Yusuf therefore condemned the act, describing it as a fundamental violation of medical professional ethics and a grave desecration of international principles.
She further said that the act breached some of the provisions of international conventions, protocols and best medical practices.
Yusuf added that the act also violated many of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), especially the International Labour Organisation adopted Convention 190, held in June 2019, Against Violence and Harasement at the workplace.
She urged the management of the hospital to do the needful by stepping into the matter and give justice to the nurse through the application of civil service rules.
According to the chairman, if Doctor Atinko is found guilty of physical and verbal assault of the nurse, he should be subjected to disciplinary action as contained in the condition of service of the hospital and extant the civil service rules.
Yusuf disclosed that Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the work place had been a recurring decimal especially to some of the association members.
Others at the briefing who also condemned the act are Nurse Akpi Awujah, Chairman NANNM, National Hospital Branch, and Nurse Sadiya Garba, Chief Nursing Officer, female medical ward of the hospital.
The accused (Dr Ikeya) and the management of the hospital are yet to react to the allegation and development, respectively.
