Edo ‘arrested’ doctor accuses board chair of victimisation
A medical doctor at the Edo State Sickle Cell Centre, Dr. Peter Iyawe, who was accused of unethical practice by the state government, has denied the allegation.
Governor Godwin Obaseki had during a meeting with parents and guardians of members of the Concerned Sickle Cell Sufferers Club at the Government House ordered the arrest of Iyawe after he was accused of allegedly giving the sufferers an addictive drug.
Obaseki had also directed that a petition be sent to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to investigate the doctor with the possibility of prosecution, if found culpable.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. David Osifo, had alleged that Iyawe encouraged the abuse of Pentazocine, a painkiller, in spite of the availability of an alternative.
But Iyawe, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, described the allegations against him as mischievous and false.
The doctor, who claimed to have been a medical officer at the centre for over seven years without a permanent appointment, however, said the drug was officially prescribed for the sufferers at the centre.
He said, “It (unethical practice) is a mischievous allegation, which is false. All these allegations are baseless. I am a doctor; I know what I am supposed to do and what I ought not to do.
“I am a (medical) doctor. Why would I do that (administer pentazocine)? I know the side effect of the drug. I prescribe.
“I do not administer (drugs). That (pentazocine) is the drug we use in the hospital. It is the board that orders the drug.”
Iyawe alleged that he was being victimised as he had not been giving the right to fair hearing.
The doctor added, “The governor has been seriously misinformed. The board chairman and a former permanent secretary connived; even the sickle cell sufferers wrote a petition against them but nothing came out of it.
“I am requesting an audience with the governor to give me a fair hearing. They just want to victimise me and it is terrible. The governor is a listening man. He should hear our side in order to make a better decision.”
Credit: Punch Newspaper
