Bereaved Father injures Doctor and Nurse in Hospital in Ondo
Pandemonium broke out in the Ondo State-owned Mother and Child Hospital in Akure, the state capital when a father of a deceased child inflicted injuries on medical personnel on duty over the weekend.
The father of the deceased identified as Gabriel used a machete to inflict grievous injury on doctors and nurses on duty just as he attacked other patients who were receiving treatment at the hospital. Gabriel, whose son, Ezekiel died after a protracted sickness attacked medical workers at the Mother and Child Hospital on Saturday night.
Sources at the hospital told our correspondence that the man went haywire after his son passed on in the hospital. He was said to have beaten a doctor and nurse on duty with a cutlass and chased other medics, blaming them for the death of the five-year-old boy.
The attack on the medical workers paralyzed activities at the government- owned hospital for several hours. After beating the medical practitioners, it was gathered that the angry man allegedly left the hospital with the remains of the deceased. A patient who was in the hospital said, “the man and his wife suddenly rushed their sick child into the emergency ward with a cry for help to save his life, when he was almost at the point of death. “Immediately the man came in with the child, all the nurses on duty came to his rescue and the child was admitted and was put on life support.
The father of the child was later told to pay the sum of N8,000, unfortunately during that process, the child gave up. “When he was informed that the boy was dead, he angrily rushed into his car and brought out a cutlass which he used to beat a nurse and a doctor on duty. He was really mad. So everyone on duty had to run for safety.” The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. B. Eniowo, said one of the doctors on duty was injured as the man hit him with a cutlass and tore his cloth. She said it was one of the patients that gave him his cloth to cover his nakedness.
According to her, the father of the deceased came to the hospital in the early hours of the day and was promptly attended to even when he did not pay the medical bill. She said the son could not survive because he was not brought to the hospital for medical attention.
Rather, they gave him concoctions, which had affected him. She said the man has promised to come back to attack the hospital, saying the staff are under the tension of imminent attack from families of patients.
She added that the situation has been reported to the Police and Amotekun Security Network who have deployed personnel to protect the staff and patients. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Funmilayo Odunlami, said she was yet to be briefed about the incident.
