Hospital sacks Nurse for reporting Assault by Patient’s family
The Hospital for Trauma and Surgery, Lagos, has sacked one Mary Samuel, a nurse who was assaulted by relatives of Odinachi, a patient at the hospital.
Samuel told newsmen she was relieved of her duty on last Thursday after the management of the hospital accused her of breach of trust.
“They accused me of breaching our agreement in a document. But I didn’t sign anything like that,” she said.
“They said I had breached the trust of the organisation after I reported the assault case on social media.
“When I got to work on Monday, the HR brought an employee confidentiality agreement and asked us to sign immediately. She insisted it must be signed right there.
“Now, think about it, I signed the agreement letter on Monday and this case has been on since May 24. If I had signed the agreement letter before the incident, it would have been valid, but this doesn’t count as an agreement as they are two different things.
“Meanwhile, Abimbola Ogbara, the HR, called me on Wednesday morning, saying that the hospital was giving me the month off for a leave but my June salary would be paid in full. I told them I hadn’t requested for a leave from work but if they insisted, they would have to put it in writing.
“When I got to work yesterday, I asked the HR why I was getting a leave and she said the management felt I was not concentrating on my work because I was unsatisfied with the incident.”
Mary said the HR had told her the management felt like she should take a month off work and they would later hold a meeting to arrive at a decision.
“She gave me the letter and I realised the hospital was terminating my appointment,” she said.
“I called back to ask why I was given a termination letter after the hospital told me I was getting a leave off work but she didn’t answer any of my calls.
“They felt threatened by the call from FIJ because it was after the call that they began to panic and even begged me to stop talking to the media about the case.
“They asked me to tell whoever asked that we’d settled and sorted things.”
On June 6, relatives of Odinachi had beaten Mary for refusing to go against the Doctor’s prescription.
When contacted, the hospital’s administrative officer said she couldn’t comment. She asked the reporter to speak with the human resources officer, but her line was not reachable at press time.
Source: FIJ
