The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) FCT Chapter has demanded for an unreserved public apology from the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) over alleged bullying of one of its members.
Dr Charles Ugwuanyi, Chairman of NMA-FCT made the demand during a news conference on Thursday to express NMA’s displeasure over an allegation against Dr Sunday Atinko of the National Hospital Abuja (NHA), a member of the association.
The chairman stated that Dr Atinko was alleged to have been involved in a physical altercation with a nurse, Marvis Ebalu at the NHA on June 13, 2022 while both of them were on duty at the hospital.
”The nurse alleged that the said doctor was drunk while on duty and physically abused her to justify her refusal and insubordination towards executing the patient management instructions prescribed by the doctors during ward rounds.
”The scene created by this nurse during this unfortunate incident attracted the immediate attention of the medical communities across the globe,” he said.
The chairman said that following the perceived bullying of the nurse by the doctor, the NANNM FCT Chapter mobilized its members, without recourse to any fair hearing from the both parties.
He said that because of this incident, the NANNM launched a very damaging street protest against the said doctor, calling for his head and was subjected to cyber bullying of unprecedented dimensions from nurses across the globe.
In the heat of all this, the chairman, said the NMA appealed for calm among the medical community because it believed that NHA has inbuilt administrative mechanism to investigate the incident.
“We are aware that the NHA management first called for calm and quickly set up an investigative panel to this effect in that same June.
“We are also aware that following the submission of their report, the matter was referred to the Appointment and Promotion and Disciplinary Committee for ratification and dispensation of their findings and recommendations.
“It is instructive to note that this committee published her report in December 2022 and completely absolved Dr Atinko Sunday of all allegations leveled on him by the nurse.
“There was never physical abuse by this doctor, but there was a clear case of insubordinate by the nurse,” he said.
During NMA Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) in December 2022, he said, the NMA received an update on the matter but the report was not published then and the Congress still appealed for calm among her agitating members to allow NHA management more time for thorough job.
The NMA-FCT chairman appreciated the management of NHA for its courage, resilience to perform a thorough investigation on the matter and for publishing its findings without fear or favour of any of the parties in the matter.
He said that the findings had further shown that the doctor had dedicated much of his life and career to patients, adding that he is a proud husband and father of several children with moral standard.
He said that the findings of management of NHA had not only cleared Dr Atinko, but indeed the whole Hippocratic brethren in the medical profession throughout the world as leaders of the profession.
He called on NANNM-FCT to immediately initiate talks with Atinko as a means of creating workable environment within the two parties, and to halt further deterioration of this matter.
