BY GBENGA ARIYIBI
ADO EKITI— A staff nurse at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Mrs Mary Akinniyi, was beaten to pulp by relations of a deceased patient for allegedly applying wrong medication.

The deceased, Mrs Beatrice Adepoju, who was said to be suffering from terminal liver ailment was said to have been kept at a faith-based home for months before she was brought to the hospital

The late Adepoju who was initially admitted at the Accident and Emergency unit of the hospital on Saturday  eventually died on Sunday

Also, the hospital guard who would have rescued the assaulted nurse was allegedly attacked and flung to a nearby glass door which gave him some cuts.

However, the guard was said to have called for back up and it was the arrival of the other security men that saved the situation.

Intention was to kill the staff—CMD

Speaking in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, Acting Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Kolawole Ogundipe, alleged that the nurse’s hands were held to the back by one of the enraged relations while another held her by the throat.

He said: “To us, this was not a reprimand by the relatives of the patient but a clear case of an attempt to kill an officer of the state in our employ.

“We are used to verbal attacks and other forms through which patients’ relatives react to the death of their loved ones. But this is different. The intention was to kill the staff on duty and that is the worrisome aspect of this, it was not to reprimand.”

Represented by Dr Kayode Ajite, the CMD said the patient was brought to the Accident and Emergency Ward (A&E) of the hospital where she was stabilised and subsequently taken to the Female Medical Ward on admission.

According to Ogundipe, “the patient’s condition deteriorated which made the nurse to request that the relations should get the necessary injectable  that would keep the patient stable while they waited for the prescribed drugs.

“The patient in the process died and the ignorant relations thought it was the injection given by the nurse that caused the death, therefore transferred their emotion on her.

“Two daughters of the patient, who were at the scene, attacked our staff, held her hands, choked her and held her nostril. That was an intention to kill.”

Police are being partisan

The hospital management equally indicted the police for alleged covering up.

He said: “The police are being partisan in the matter and we do not feel comfortable with that.

“Our integrity is at stake and we want the police to investigate the matter and clear our name and we have called for autopsy to determine the actual cause of the patient’s death.”