Despite the resumption of duty by members of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo unit, the bone of contention between the hospital authority and the union is still unsettled.
The nurses had suspended duty in the hospital for two days when the corporal policeman assaulted one of their members over the suspicion that the nurse might have contributed to the death of his wife.
The deceased’s condition was said to have worsened in the University Teaching Hospital, Uyo, after she was scheduled for a dialysis examination on account of post-caesarian acute kidney failure from a private clinic in Eket, resulting in her death.
The husband who claimed his wife was abandoned by the said nurse on the night duty returned the next day with a detachment of policemen to cause commotion in the hospital.
Speaking to journalists, Patrick Odu, the NANNM Chairman, Akwa Ibom Council said the union has waded into the disagreement between its members and the policemen, giving the hospital authority such conditions overhauling of the security network of the hospital and payment of compensation to the assaulted nurse.
Odu said the wife of a policeman had died while receiving intensive care in the Dialysis Unit of the hospital and exonerated her from any error on the demise.
He said the nurses did not embark on strike as certain conditions were not fulfilled, but only suspended duty to protest the assault of their member.
The chairman, who condemned the action of the policemen, admitted that the nurse had been partly compensated.
On Wednesday, April 28, Mr. Otaru Shaibu, the deputy general secretary of NANNM had petitioned the state Commissioner for Police over the harassment, assault and battering of a nurse in the hospital.
In the petition, he claimed that that was not the first time the embarrassment was meted to their members in the facility, saying the state leadership of the union wants a stoppage to such unprofessional conduct and demanded a public apology from the appropriate authority.
The state Commissioner of Police, Edgal had written to the CMD referring to the incident and asking him for a detailed report of what happened so as to enable him to confirm whether what the policeman was saying that his wife was treated shabbily was true so that it can be documented in order to avoid a possible repeat.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Emem Bassey said the woman was in bad condition and there was suspicion of COVID-19 when she was brought to the hospital.
“I reasoned at the back of my mind that the policeman acted wrongly, he might have acted because of the tragedy. Even the nurse who was assaulted was there and I pleaded with her that the management was going to handle her case,” CMD said.
