Katsina nurses protest against alleged police assault of their colleague
Members of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives in Katsina State have protested against “incessant police assault’ on some of their members.
They carried out the protest on Sunday to express displeasure over alleged assault on a staff nurse at General Ahmadi Rimi Orthopaedic Hospital Katsina by police personnel who took victims of an accident to the hospital.
Addressing journalists on behalf of the nurses, Kamaludeen Kabir said a nurse was manhandled by officers who “came to the hospital and acted as if they were above the law.”
“We are health workers and not criminals. This is unacceptable and we will fight it. We will no longer tolerate such abuses from any security official because we are also doing our job.
“One of our members (Umar Lawal) was assaulted on Wednesday around 5 p.m. by a team of policemen while attending to an emergency case. We have followed the situation,” he added.
He said the hospital management and other stakeholders had been duly informed of the development.
Mr Kabir said the association had noted frequent assaults on its members and other health workers in the state.
How they attacked me – Victim.
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES after the protest, Mr Lawal said he was met at the Nurse’s Station in the evening of the fateful day.
“I had finished medication with my internal patients and was waiting at the Nurse’s Station when an ambulance from the National Open University brought in accident victims with five policemen.
“I checked one of the patients and discovered that he has external injuries but had more internal injuries especially on his thigh and other fracture on his neck. I was prescribing the drugs for them to go and buy so that we could resuscitate him.
“Then suddenly, they brought another of the victims who was already dead when they came to the hospital. We were asking them but they said he was already dead. I asked them to go and buy card and drugs for the victims, then one of them said I should remove money from his pocket which I did and asked him to go and buy the drugs.
“But he said I should go and buy the drugs for them. That was when he collected his money. One of the policemen started shouting at me to obey his boss’ command but I told them my work is to save the victims, which I was already doing.
“Then the boss who asked me to buy the drugs slapped me and I slapped him back because I felt I was doing my job. They all descended on me and started beating me, saying I must follow them to the police station.
“When it became obvious that they would overpower me, I pushed one of them who was trying to grab me by the waist and ran into the emergency ward.”
The police spokesperson in the state, Gambo Isa, did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the issue.
Source: Premium Times
