OAUTH Nurse-Doctor Saga: NANNM Refutes Claims By Resident Doctors, Calls Them Over-pampared

The Association of Resident Doctors at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, embarked on a warning strike on 8 am Tuesday, June 21, 2022, to 7:59 am on Thursday, June 23, 2022 due to a verbal assault.

Recall that: OAUTH Doctors Embark On Warning Strike As A Nurse Holds A Doctor Hostage

The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, OAUTH debunked the claims made by the resident doctors before the commencement of the strike and their alleged video evidence.

In the press release they stated that the process carried out, Insertion of Central Line, was a bloody one that required a strict infection control in which the cadre of doctors understood perfectly but not the need to segregate and appropriately dispose of the waste used during it even though she (the nurse) brought in the trolley and stated the method of disposal of the waste according to WHO.

The nurse noticed that the other doctors were done but the house officer (Dr Bello) “left the scattered waste and the
open needles and sharp objects at the patients’ bedside and was tactically
sneaking out of the ward. Proving the suspicion of the nurse on duty, the house
officer refused to segregate and discard the hazardous and injurious waste
generated and negligently abandoned by the doctors at the patient’s bedside”.

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NANNM stated that all the Nurse did, that is, locking the exit of the ward was to ensure the safety of everyone as that was the best she could to avoid a physical confrontation.

“In their usual dictatorial pride, the ARD in OAUTHC further threatened to go on strike for 48 hours so as to coerce the Hospital Management into initiating disciplinary measure against the Nurse who was enforcing principles of global practice”.

NANNM stated that the following facts of the case which have been established shall guide the next line of action by Nurses and NANNM in OAUTHC unit and Nigeria at large:

1. According to the International Code of Nursing (ICN) Code of Ethics, a Nurse iss universally empowered to protect the rights of the patient to a safe healthcare environment that is free from harm or injury, irrespective of the patient’s race, gender or social status.
2. All Nurses in OAUTHC are fully in support of the action of the Nurse on duty and will not hesitate to do everything ethically, legally and professionally appropriate to defend her personal and professional rights to protect the patient, patients’ relatives, and other healthcare workers in the hospital.
3. In compliance with rule of law, NANNM is in possession of the ‘video evidence’ referenced to be the ARD in OAUTHC and additional introvertible pictorial evidence to substantiate our truthful and trusted report of the scenario.
4. The Nurse is acting as a legitimate advocate of the patient, relatives and other healthcare professionals whose lives are put at hazardous risk due to the erroneous ego of some over-pampared resident doctors.
5. If the resident doctors are confident enough that their member is harassed illegally, why not honourably seek legal redress and unbiased judgement from the Court of Law, instead of threatening to further put innocent lives at risk. Will the loss of lives of Nigerians be a legitimate remedy for enforcing global best practices of waste management?
6. As legally compliant association, the Lawyer of NANNM has written to the OAUTHC Management to protect the personal and professional rights of the Nurse and all Nurses at large in OAUTHC and world at large.
7. In the video evidence referenced, one of the doctors was asking the nurse to order another healthcare worker to discard the waste generated by the doctors, which she refused. The principle of duty of care dictates that “whoever generates waste must segregate and dispose it”. The refusal of the nurse to put the life of other healthcare workers and environmental staff at risk that the waste generated by the resident doctors must be appropriately segregated and discarded cannot be refuted, hence the need to call for action by the nurse.Nurses who they claim to be very important in the training of Resident Doctors during their Facility Accreditation by both the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and West African College of Surgeons; cannot be listened to or reasonably engaged on her precautionary request that doctors should discard the waste they generated.

They declared the agreement of all Nurses in OAUTHC to continuously uphold the “duty of care” to ensure that the ward environment is safe for the patients, relatives and the entire staff within the hospital.

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