The Ogun State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has warned against attacks on its medical personnel.

The NMA chairman, Kunle Ashimi, who gave the warning during a news conference on Wednesday in Abeokuta, urged patients and their relations to channel their complaints to appropriate quarters.

He said patients or relatives should express their grievances to appropriate quarters and avoid attacking doctors.

This followed an attack on a doctor and a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, on Tuesday by relatives of a patient who died in the hospital.

Mr Ashimi described the attack as unacceptable, adding that his members had faced numerous attacks by patients or their relatives during the discharge of their duties.

Recounting the incident, Mr Ashimi said relatives of a woman who suffered heart failure attacked the medical personnel after the patient died.

“Unfortunately, this particular patient gave up the ghost just around 2:00 a.m., and the next thing that the husband and her son did was attack the doctor that had been taking care of this patient.

“When the news of her death was broken to them, the doctor received a slap each from these two individuals, and subsequently they attacked her, but she was only saved by people around.

“In spite of the presence of the police, the young son of the late woman went ahead to assault a nurse,” he explained.

Mr Ashimi said they were subsequently taken into police custody.

He said the association was willing to take the culprits to court to deter others in the habit of bearing their frustration on medical personnel.

“We have decided that this will be the last; we will not stop at pleadings. We have decided to take this case to court, and we shall be in the court tomorrow,“ he said.

He appealed to all hospital users and the public to desist from attacking medical personnel.

“We’ll go to any length to prosecute such persons, and we will not accept the pleading of anybody, no matter highly placed,” he said. 

(NAN)