Nurses at the State Hospital, Ijaye, Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday protested against alleged assault of a student-nurse by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital.

The protesting nurses were led by the Chairman, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Ogun State, chapter, Adejoke Bello.

The medical doctor was said to have slapped the student-nurse in the theatre suit on September 24.

The nurses said that efforts between the time of the incident and now to seek redress from the state government had yielded no result.

The angry nurses chanted various songs to express their grievances, while also carrying placards bearing messages condemning the alleged act.

Some of the messages read: “End bullying of nurses,” “End nurses brutality,” “Bullying of nurses is not acceptable,” “Zero tolerance for nurses bullying, “Respect for nurses,” “Respect for care” and “Justice for nurses, a must” among others.

Ms Bello noted that the peaceful protest was to register their dissatisfaction and displeasure over what she called an unethical practice of the doctor.

According to her, the assault is against the public service rule and should not have happened, under any circumstance.

“It is a gross misconduct for you to have slapped your subordinate at work. So we are here to say that the entire nurses in Ogun State won’t tolerate this. This ordinarily should not have degenerated to this level of protest but we have written to the appropriate quarters since last Monday and we gave them 48 hours to address this unfortunate incident. But we have heard nothing from them, especially the management of this hospital; they have not called us; so we are left with no choice but to mobilise for this peaceful protest,” she said.

Ms Bello demanded that the medical practitioner be brought to justice in accordance with public service rules.

She said, “We are saying no to harassment and assault of nurses. We have told our nurses to go back to work but we have given the management of the hospital four hours to get back to us in black and white. We have equally done that to register our dissatisfaction with the poor treatment.’’

Similarly, the hospital’s Unit Chairman of NANNM, Lola Idowu-Falujo, condemned the alleged harassment, saying that it fell below the provisions of the public service rule.

“We are doing our best in this hospital to care for our patients and move the state and the country forward. So we don’t deserve any form of maltreatment. We had written to the management of the hospital and the state government since Friday but we have heard nothing. If they had responded, there might not be any need for this protest. We want the government to activate the state public service rules to handle this matter and ensure that justice is served,” she said.

The Permanent Secretary, Hospitals Management Board, Dr Olayinka Elemide, who addressed the protesting nurses, told journalists that the government was aware of the situation and was already taking steps to address it.

“Government is aware of this situation and is already taking steps to ensure that due process is followed. The doctor and the student-nurse are both in the care of the government; so we are on top of the situation,” she added.

(NAN)