A doctor in the Lekki area of Lagos State, Dr Emmanuel Okolo, has been accused of brutalising a nurse, Dorcas Adeyera. The incident happened at the Awoyaya Hospital and Maternity Centre, Ibeju Lekki. Dr. Okolo and Adeyera’s misunderstanding stemmed from the treatment of a patient rushed into the medical facility in the early hours of Monday.

 

Okolo was alleged to have frowned on the admission of the accident victim without his consent, blaming Adeyera for the action. The medical doctor allegedly summoned the 23-year-old into his office and ordered her to kneel down. When the victim refused, 35-year-old Okolo was alleged to have dealt her several slaps and also flogged her with a belt. Adeyera, in her report to the medical director of the hospital, said she was humiliated by Okolo.

 

Her Report States:

I, Nurse Adeyera Dorcas was at my duty post on the said day alongside my other colleague and two health attendants. At about 2:00 am, there was an emergency just outside the hospital door, inside a car. I stepped out of the hospital to have a clear look at the patient who was said to have been involved in an accident and already fractured a bone in his left leg.

 

The patient was conscious and alert, no obvious respiratory distress but seemed to be in severe pain. I went back inside the hospital to notify the doctor on call in person of Dr. Okolo Emmanuel. I told him there's an accident emergency outside the hospital and immediately went back to move the patient inside the hospital.

 

On getting there, I noticed that my colleague, Registered Nurse/ Midwife Adebiyi had already offered the patient a stretcher and the relatives were trying to get the patient on it then I noticed the patient and relatives were Hausa and the owners of the car were just helpers. Immediately they dropped the patient on the stretcher, they zoomed off.

 

Back inside the hospital, Dr Okolo who had been to the emergency room might have realized the patient was not there yet and as he was about leaving the emergency room, saw the patient being carried towards him. He suddenly got angry and asked why the nurse didn't allow him to see the patient first before bringing him into the hospital.

 

He pointed at me, blaming me for this and then said I should get out of his sight which I did immediately, only for him to get angrier and ordered the patient to be taken out of the hospital as he was not ready to attend to him. He came to me and told me to make sure the patient leaves the hospital berating me once more. I felt so bitter about the situation and told the patient to leave the hospital.

 

I left for the pharmacy with the hope that the patient's relatives will source for means of leaving gradually only for the doctor to come in a few minutes later and dragged me into his office. I was shocked and tried to remove my hands from his hold but he was too fierce.

 

In his office, he told me to get down on my kneels (Kneel down) to which I declined as it was against the ethics of my profession to do that in uniform, he gave me the first hard slap and repeated his utterance, I refused and called my colleague for help.

Adeyera with a swollen face after the assault

 

I tried to get out of his office but he dragged me back and reached for his belt and started beating me until the security men and my colleague came and tried to hold him, he then made mention that I was rude and he's not my age mate, I tried explaining to the security men what had happened but he didn't allow me to speak out, he reached for the sphygmomanometer and was about hitting it on my head when the security man took it from his hand and another round of slaps on my cheeks continued, this time around, I fell on the ground he continued punching me.

 

My colleague who was an eye witness went on her knees and started pleading on my behalf but Dr Okolo never stopped beating me until he was satisfied.

 

Another Nurse working at that facility who doesn't want her name in prints confirmed the incident, according to her, Dr Okolo is an aggressive man and can go to any length to deal with anybody whether patients or nurses.

 

I once had issue with him and he categorically said he was going to kill me and that nothing will happen, she said.

 

Another eye witness also confirmed the incident, according to her, this is not the first case of assault against Nurses in this hospital. A patient had beaten up a nurse in this hospital some months back and nothing was done by the management. The management doesn't care about the nurses' welfare, they treat us as second class citizens.

 

Immediately this issue happened, we notified the MD and his response was that he would look into the issue later as he's not ready to sack the Dr for now, she said.

​Adeyera Seen here at the station making a statement

 

Case Gets To The Police

Following her report to the police station on the assault, the police was reported to have visited the facility on wednesday but did not find him on seat, they dropped an invitation letter for the doctor at the hospital to come to the station by 10am the following day (Thursday 21/6/18).

 

As at 1pm yesterday, Dr. Okolo was a no show at the police station, when contacted on the telephone, he declined comment but said “I cannot speak right now; I am with my lawyers,”.

 

He has ignored subsequent calls to the telephone line and did not respond to a text message from our correspondent.

 

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, CSP Chike Oti, said the police were looking for the suspect.

 

He said, “The case was reported and we are investigating. Efforts are on to arrest and interrogate the doctor.”

 

The Assistant Director, Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, Lagos State Ministry of Health, and Human right agency are interested in the case now.