Yesterday we carried a news item of how a female resident doctor was kidnapped inside the hospital while on call. There was another side of the story suspected to have emanated from the management , claiming that the kidnapped resident doctor was not kidnapped within the hospital premises. She was released in early hours of Tuesday, February 28th ,2017 after the officers of the Nigeria Police Force were able to locate the hideout of the kidnappers at a thick forest in Aluu community.
Whenever Aluu is mentioned in Nigeria, what comes to mind is the story of the Aluu-4. The four students of University Of Port Harcourt suspected to be armed robbers/cultists in 2012 that were tried in kangaroo court set up by the people of the community and later unjustly and summarily executed without hearing their own side of the story. Aluu is also the country home of the late Elechi Amadi, the writer of the popular novel, The Concubine. Elechi Amadi was also once a guest of the kidnappers in his community though he was released thereafter. Aluu community is very close to the Choba and Alakahia communities that host University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and the University of Port Harcourt’s three campuses. The Surprising fact about Aluu community is that the Inspector General Of Police Anti-Kidnapping Tracking Unit is headquartered very close to the community along the UDSS( University Demonstration Secondary School) road . Today Aluu community is in the news again for housing the kidnapped resident doctor for the four days she was in the kidnapper’s den.
Our reporter gathered that the female resident doctor was actually kidnapped inside UPTH as against the speculation that she might have been kidnapped outside the hospital .Earlier on that Friday, February 24th 2017, she got a call that there was an emergency caesarean section .As a resident doctor on call in the Anaesthesiology unit, she was going to honour the medical consult to review the patient before administering anaesthetic medications, as she was passing through one of the dark areas in the hospital where the management has refused to install security light, she was accosted by a group of boys who first ordered that she hand over her phone. She queried why she should do that, but she was soon overpowered. The incident happened between 1900 and 2000 hours on that Friday. When she saw that she was in trouble, she pleaded with them that there was a woman that needed her services that both the woman and her unborn baby might die if the operation was not done immediately. That plea divided the kidnappers as some of them were of the opinion that she be released to attend to the woman in labour so that another resident doctor on call would be kidnapped in her place whereas the other people said no that letting her off the hook could jeopardise their activity that very day. At the end they forced her into the boot of their car and drove off passing through the hospital’s only gate opened to vehicles and manned by the best of the hospital’s security men. She was a guest to the kidnappers from Friday till early hours of Tuesday,28th February 2017 when she was released after a hot shootout between the kidnappers and the police. She was not hurt during the rescue operation but she is currently recovering from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder .She was welcomed by the CMD of UPTH,Prof Aaron Ojule and the Commissioner of Police of Rivers state. She has since reunited with her family. Our reporter also uncovered that one of the UPTH security men was among the kidnappers .Meanwhile, an argument ensued while she was in the kidnapper’s den on why she must be killed. The security man was afraid that since the female resident doctor recognised him, that releasing her might be dangerous hence the next plan was to use her voice to collect ransom from her family, which was billed for the same day she was rescued by the police, and thereafter they would kill her to prevent revealing their identities when released. Luckily she was released before the ransom was paid hence she was neither hurt nor killed.
My advice to the members of UPTH community is to always move around with whistle so that they can blow the whistle when accosted like the female resident doctor. They should also move in groups at night. In the course of the rescue, one of the kidnappers was shot dead while the others are currently giving police useful information on how to track the remaining fleeing members of their kidnapping team.
We will keep members of the public abreast of the development in the news as the drama unfolds.
By: Blessing Ihemere, Port Harcourt
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
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