IKENNA OBIANERI FROM PUNCH
The Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Anambra State chapter, Dr. Jane Ezeonu, has decried the increasing rate of attacks and physical assaults by patients and relatives seeking medical attention in the state.
Ezeonu said medical doctors in the state are facing increasing security threats in the line of discharging their duties, a situation she said is causing brain drain and endangering the lives of the medical personnel across the state.
She spoke to journalists in Awka on Friday, while lamenting that medical doctors were facing incessant assaults ranging from text messages to verbal abuses unleashed on them.
While drawing the attention of the Anambra State Government to their plight, she also disclosed that medical doctors, frequently receive threat messages in the course of discharging their duties, especially on sit-at-home days.
Ezeonu also stated that the association had constantly expressed sadness over medical doctors who have lost their lives while trying to save the lives of others.
According to her, doctors are daily becoming vulnerable because health facilities are open for services at all times.
She disclosed that the association had reported cases of kidnapping and murder of medical doctors in the course of duty, without security agencies taking any positive action.
She revealed that a case in point was the gruesome murder of a doctor (name withheld) in late 2022, while on his way to attend to a medical emergency at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where he was working.
According to her, the association expressed worry that up till now, the killers of the said colleague had not been identified and apprehended by security agencies.
She said, “It is sad that in addition to the challenge of poor work environment, doctors are subjected to incessant harassments and assaults by patients and their relatives and this trend has been on the increase lately.
