Nurses at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State have staged a protest on the premises of the hospital over the alleged beating of their colleagues by some relations of a dead patient.
PUNCH gathered that relations of the patient, who was brought to the hospital on Saturday, stormed the ward where the deceased died on Sunday, beating the nurses on duty and blaming them for the death.
The nurses on Monday said they would not return to work until adequate security is provided for them.
While affirming their oath of service to provide care for all, they said the incident on Sunday whereby relatives of a ‘dead’ patient beat their colleagues was rather unfortunate.
The leader of the protesters, Segun Francis, said the protest was to express their grievance on the matter to the management of the Nigerian government-owned hospital.
Francis said, “We staged the protest to express our displeasure over the attack on our colleagues on duty yesterday. When the patient died, the relatives came to the ward and started beating the nurses on duty. They were dragged on the floor. Two of the nurses were seriously injured. They have been admitted at the hospital now.
“What we want is for the management to take action on the culprit to serve as a deterrent to others. What happened to our colleagues can happen to any other staff in the future.”
