Medical doctors in the employment of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), have on Friday commenced five days strike to protest the assault on one of their colleagues.
The President, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr Mubaraq Ijaiya, umbrella body of the doctors, disclosed this in Ilorin, attributing their action to the recent attack on their member by relatives of a patient.
The members carried placards with inscription such as: “#ARD says No to Violence”, “#Healthwokers lives matter”, and “#Protect us, as we protect you!”.
Dr. Ijaiya said they want security cover at all emergency points within the hospital for the safety of their lives.
He explained how a resident doctor on emergency duty was assaulted by patient relatives along with other members of staff while resuscitating their patients.
The ARD-UITH president lamented that this is one of several episodes of physical assault on their members in 2022, with no culprit prosecuted to a logical conclusion and several other assaults that have occurred on healthcare workers in the last few months within the hospital.
He stated further that the index patient was a known patient in the facility being managed for a terminal illness.
“He was rushed to the Emergency Unit of the hospital on the Dec. 27 at about 7 a.m. He was promptly attended to and admitted for emergency management by the medical team on emergency duty.
“The necessary management plan was prescribed including some required investigations and his primary managing team was notified through a written consult and phone call,” he said.
Ijaiya said contrary to misinformation, the patient was alive and was just stabilised by the same doctor when the relatives assaulted him, adding that unfortunately despite the best efforts of the managing team, the patient passed away in the early hours of Dec. 28, while also condoling the family on the loss.
He recommended the immediate provision of posters and banners all-round the hospital to discourage any form of assault on healthcare workers.“Security agents should ensure proper prosecution of the culprits to prevent further assault,” he said.
Head Corporate Affairs Unit of UITH, Mrs Elizabeth Ajiboye, appreciated the peaceful resolution of the problem but frowns at avoidable frictions between relatives and healthcare givers.
She said the management would do all that is necessary, including legal redress, to solve the problem.
According to her, such incidence of attacks in the past led to serious injuries on healthcare givers and that the hospital management would no longer tolerate any of such harassment and assault from patients’ relatives and friends.
“Patients and their relatives are strongly advised to always channel their grievances through the SERVICOM Unit of the hospital rather than resort to verbal abuse and violence in seeking redress to observed lapses or ethical breaches on the part of members of staff of the hospital.
“We once again reiterate our commitment to the delivery of quality healthcare services to our patients,while we covet their unalloyed cooperation,” said Ajiboye.
