Nurses at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, have reportedly downed tools after a colleague was allegedly slapped, beaten and strangled by a relative of a deceased child.
The victim, identified as Nurse Adeeko, reportedly sustained injuries and briefly lost consciousness during the night-shift attack at the hospital’s Children’s Ward.
The incident sparked protests, with nurses demanding justice, an independent investigation and urgent measures to protect healthcare workers from violence.
The Nation gathered that the confrontation followed the death of a critically ill child reportedly diagnosed with end-stage neuroblastoma.
According to an incident report, nurses had alerted the medical team to the child’s deteriorating condition and allegedly requested a referral to another hospital. The child reportedly died before the referral was carried out.
A relative allegedly turned violent after the death, attacking Adeeko while nurses were attending to medical emergencies.
Two patients were reportedly suffering cardiac arrest around the same period, leaving the nurses on duty scrambling to save lives when the alleged assault occurred.
A colleague who witnessed the attack reportedly sought help from hospital security but alleged that the response was delayed. The colleague was said to have been directed to the hospital’s main gate, some distance from the ward.
The supervisor on duty was eventually contacted, while the police were reportedly called in.
The incident report further alleged that relatives of the deceased child returned to the ward at about 1:25 a.m. and continued threatening nurses.
Adeeko was eventually taken to the Accident and Emergency Department after reportedly losing consciousness.
In a message circulated among colleagues, she expressed concern about the lack of immediate photographic evidence of her injuries.
“So I don’t really have evidence now. The only witness is one nurse, Nurse Lasis, the treasurer for NANNM,” she reportedly said.
Furious over the incident, nurses staged a protest, demanding accountability over the alleged assault and the reported delay in security intervention.
The protesters also called for adequate staffing, stronger night-shift security, medical and psychological support for Adeeko, and written assurances from hospital management that such attacks would not recur.
They further demanded an investigation into the clinical concerns reportedly raised before the child’s death.
The nurses maintained that the loss of a child, however painful, could not justify violence against healthcare workers.
“No nurse should have to choose between responding to a medical emergency and protecting herself from violence,” they reportedly said.
Sources also alleged that nursing leaders were pressured to persuade the protesters to return to work. One source claimed the hospital’s Chief Medical Director instructed nursing leaders to urge the workers to resume duty. The allegation has not been independently verified.
The nurses reportedly declared an immediate strike and indicated plans to resume work on Monday. The exact resumption arrangements remain unclear.
The OOUTH protest comes days after health workers at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta, reportedly embarked on a warning strike over the alleged assault of colleagues by a patient’s relative.
The back-to-back incidents have heightened concerns over the safety of medical personnel in Ogun State’s public hospitals, with workers demanding stronger security and accountability.
The nurses insist that saving lives should not come at the cost of their own safety.
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