Members of the Nigeria Association of Government Medical and Dental Practitioners at the General Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State, have embarked on a two-day strike to protest the beating of one of them by a policeman.
The assault-happy policeman had beaten up a doctor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology unit on Sunday evening.
The officer was said to have brought the wife to the hospital himself, but picked offence with the unnamed doctor for not getting expressed approval before examing her.
The officer justified himself, claiming where he hails from, it is improper and a taboo for an adult male, who is not a blood relation to touch another man’s wife without procuring the husband’s consent.
The examination that prompted the assault from the sergeant attached to the Police Mobile Force was done in the presence of a doctor colleague, as per the state Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association, Dr Ola Ahmed, who said the doctors’ recourse to industrial action was imperative to stem the tide of violence against medical practitioners by patients and their relatives in the line of duty.
“After an emergency congress, the doctors have unanimously agreed that no doctor will work in the hospital for 48 hours. We are tired of being a punching bag by the public,” Ahmed told newsmen.
Recall that doctors in the same state hospital trod similar path two months ago, embarking on strike after one patient, Mustapha Saliu, died in their facility and consequently, his son and one other person took it out on a doctor, beating the latter up on alleged mistreament and causing the deceased’s death.
The corpse was also seized and the perpetrators of the attack arrested.
