Activities at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital
(UMTH) were disrupted, on Thursday, when policemen who brought corpses
of their colleagues killed in Bama to the morgue went on the rampage,
shooting a medical doctor and beating up some medical staff.
They were also said to have destroyed medical laboratory equipment in the hospital.
A staff of the hospital who did not want his name in print told the Nigerian Tribune that the police were told that the morgue was full, but the police insisted that the corpses must be deposited.
He said: “You know when there is no place to keep corpses, sometimes they are kept on the floor pending when a space is created for refrigerating, but when they came this morning, the mobile policemen went on the rampage and started shooting. They beat up a professor and other medical staff and also shot a medical doctor before some miltary men in the hospital brought the situation under control.”
According to him, the hospital had been closed, as some doctors had threatened they would no longer attend to policemen who were being brought for treatment almost on daily basis.
“The doctors are saying that they deserve some respect from the uniform men because some of the security operatives, particularly the police, have this disrespecting attitude towards them.
Some of these doctors and professor they beat up would have been IGPs if they are in uniforms, but somebody who is far down the ladder treats them as nobody,” he explained.Attempts to get the Chief Medical Director, Professor Tahir Othman, to speak on the incident did not yield results.
Attempts to confirm the incident failed as the Nigeria Tribune attempted speaking with the Police Commissioner, Yuguda Abdullahi, who was at the Maiduguri Government House about one hour after the incident.
Meanwhile, the Borno State Police Commissioner, Yuguda Abdullahi, was at the UMTH, about four hours after the incident.
But Dr Mohammed Yahaya, a senior registrar Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, who is also the president of the Association of Resident Doctors, told Nigerian Tribune in an interview that they had endured humiliation by the police particularly and were not ready to take what happened today lightly.
He, therefore, said he had declared an indefinite strike with immediate effect from today, because according to him, they had been cooperating with the management of the hospital as well as the security in order to see that they work together for the common good, but that the police had been harassing them.
He said they have left the comfort of their houses to save lives, but the police particularly were not appreciative of what they are doing as such, the hospital is no longer save for them to operate.
“We demand an unreserved apology from the higher authority of the police and assurance that such would never happened again if we are to return to duty. They beat up our professors, they beat up our teachers our doctors are right now on admission wit fracture as a result of police madness because they brought the corpses of 35 policemen killed in Bama and we tried to explain to them that there was no space at the morgue,” he added.
Also speaking, a medical scientist (name withheld), who was beat up and his handset collected told our correspondent that, he was busy trying to get the result of some patients when the mobile broke in and started beating everybody and shooting sporadically.
“ It was sad and pathetic, a rather uncivilize and unprofessional way of doing things. Dr. Abba Kabir, who have been attending to patients in now being attended to because the police feels they have not been treated fairly when they are aware that the morgue was full to capacity and we are doing our best to accomodate the corpses they brought despite our predicament.” He said.
TRIBUNE
They were also said to have destroyed medical laboratory equipment in the hospital.
A staff of the hospital who did not want his name in print told the Nigerian Tribune that the police were told that the morgue was full, but the police insisted that the corpses must be deposited.
He said: “You know when there is no place to keep corpses, sometimes they are kept on the floor pending when a space is created for refrigerating, but when they came this morning, the mobile policemen went on the rampage and started shooting. They beat up a professor and other medical staff and also shot a medical doctor before some miltary men in the hospital brought the situation under control.”
According to him, the hospital had been closed, as some doctors had threatened they would no longer attend to policemen who were being brought for treatment almost on daily basis.
“The doctors are saying that they deserve some respect from the uniform men because some of the security operatives, particularly the police, have this disrespecting attitude towards them.
Some of these doctors and professor they beat up would have been IGPs if they are in uniforms, but somebody who is far down the ladder treats them as nobody,” he explained.Attempts to get the Chief Medical Director, Professor Tahir Othman, to speak on the incident did not yield results.
Attempts to confirm the incident failed as the Nigeria Tribune attempted speaking with the Police Commissioner, Yuguda Abdullahi, who was at the Maiduguri Government House about one hour after the incident.
Meanwhile, the Borno State Police Commissioner, Yuguda Abdullahi, was at the UMTH, about four hours after the incident.
But Dr Mohammed Yahaya, a senior registrar Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, who is also the president of the Association of Resident Doctors, told Nigerian Tribune in an interview that they had endured humiliation by the police particularly and were not ready to take what happened today lightly.
He, therefore, said he had declared an indefinite strike with immediate effect from today, because according to him, they had been cooperating with the management of the hospital as well as the security in order to see that they work together for the common good, but that the police had been harassing them.
He said they have left the comfort of their houses to save lives, but the police particularly were not appreciative of what they are doing as such, the hospital is no longer save for them to operate.
“We demand an unreserved apology from the higher authority of the police and assurance that such would never happened again if we are to return to duty. They beat up our professors, they beat up our teachers our doctors are right now on admission wit fracture as a result of police madness because they brought the corpses of 35 policemen killed in Bama and we tried to explain to them that there was no space at the morgue,” he added.
Also speaking, a medical scientist (name withheld), who was beat up and his handset collected told our correspondent that, he was busy trying to get the result of some patients when the mobile broke in and started beating everybody and shooting sporadically.
“ It was sad and pathetic, a rather uncivilize and unprofessional way of doing things. Dr. Abba Kabir, who have been attending to patients in now being attended to because the police feels they have not been treated fairly when they are aware that the morgue was full to capacity and we are doing our best to accomodate the corpses they brought despite our predicament.” He said.
TRIBUNE
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