House officer assaulted a senior Nurse in FMC, Owerri. Why is it still lying low?

The incident happened on the 4th January which was on a Saturday, the house officer was said to be using the digital sphygmomanometer which belonged to the A.C. N.O in question to check himself. The A.C.N.O however asked him to stop using the sphyg as it belonged to her because he had a previous history of assault against her which she didn’t report. He ignored her & continued using it. This surprising disobedience and force for use of her personal item prompted her to disconnect the cuff on his arm from the machine and carried it (the machine) waiting so he can give her the cuff, however the describable aggressive House Officer unexpectedly, removed the cuff and used it to flog the Assistant Chief Nursing Officer on her neck up to her cheek, enough that she sustained injury on her neck.

The doctor in his aggressive suit also attempted to beat the second Nurse around who the scene tried to intervene upon sighting the scene of embarrassment. This happened at the A&E (Casualty) unit of the hospital on that fateful Saturday.

When I spoke with the affected Chief, she said she has written to the MD and Head of Clinical Services (H.C.S) through the H.O.D of Nursing Services Department. The best the H.C.S could do was to ask the House Officer in training- Nnanna Njemanze to apologize to the Nurse. I also asked her about the issue of a previous assault on her by the same h.o. She told me that towards the end of December, 2019, Nnanna Njemanze came to catheterize a female patient at the Casualty but the patient refused the procedure, hence she encouraged him to document patient’s refusal but he told her in exactly remembered sentence: “shut up! who are you to tell me what to do?”.

When they came aside, she went ahead to talk to him personally on the importance of his documentation to help exonerate himself from any negative implication and went ahead to wash her hands in the sink. While she was doing so, he gave her a slap on her ear from behind which affected her left ear and eye.

Everyone present were surprised and she merely spoke to him not to try it again as it was wrong. Only for him to take a step further barely 2 weeks from his first crime! If Nnanna Njemanze, a house officer could behave this way, it therefore means by the time he becomes a consultant, Nurses would have to run away from him and don’t forget, he may be in any hospital in any part of Nigeria for that matter. He didn’t even consider the age of the woman in question! Check how many years in service it would have taken her to climb to the level of an A.C.N.O (at least 12-13 years or more) definitely before Nnanna Njemanze entered the University to study Medicine.

Most annoyingly was another House Officer I personally approached at F.M.C about this issue and he told me precisely “forget that matter, e don die, dem don kill am. Nothing dey happen”. Really?, could that be true? Simply because he’s a doctor, the MD a doctor, the HCS also a doctor? Is that the reason for the high level of clear injustice?? But if that Nurse had retaliated, they would have known that Civil Service rule applies and the Nurse would have been going from one disciplinary panel and committee to another until they terminate her job.

Now, nobody has arisen to take strict action on this because he’s really not worth it. Such a person is a threat to other health workers, does not exhibit any knowledge of work place ethics and cannot relate healthily with other health workers. If you’re interested in this matter, you’re highly welcome to investigate this yourself, (Several online sources reported it) .

Pharmarbiter's Analysis:

This matter fizzling out without any disciplinary action from either the hospital or NMA (Nigerian Medical Association) to the house officer, simply describe our medical system in 3 sentences:

The concealment of this misconduct by the hospital authorities whom i presume are mostly doctors is just a hint of the level of corruption and lack of transparency in our medical system.

The well-being and the mental health of staff are not important as physical assaults is not a grievous offence.

In a sense society, such an aggressive doctor need anger management counselling or even a rehabilitation as service users lives are at risk.