The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has decried the rising wave of assaults on medical personnel in hospitals across the country.

Findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that at least 17 major tertiary health institutions across the country recorded cases of attacks on doctors within the past year.

The affected facilities include the University College Hospital, Ibadan; Federal Medical Centre, Owo; Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu; Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Awka; Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara; General Hospital, Warri; Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospitals, Abakaliki; and FMC Jabi, Abuja.

Others are the Kwara State University Teaching Hospital, Ilorin; Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto; University of Uyo Teaching Hospital; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu; National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu; FMC Jalingo; National Hospital, Abuja; and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.

The development has renewed concerns among medical professionals, who said attacks on doctors had become frequent, with perpetrators often being patients’ relatives, aggrieved family members, or individuals dissatisfied with treatment outcomes.

NARD warned that repeated attacks on healthcare workers were becoming a serious threat to the country’s health system, stressing that doctors could no longer continue to work under the constant fear of assault.

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the National President of NARD, Dr Muhammed Suleiman, described the development as “intolerable, unacceptable, and dangerous to the survival of Nigeria’s healthcare system,” warning that the situation was creating fear among doctors and worsening workforce shortages as many consider leaving the country.

Suleiman said NARD would no longer fold its arms while doctors are treated like criminals in the institutions where they serve humanity.

He further stated that recent threats issued against one of its members were being treated with utmost seriousness, insisting that any harm, direct or indirect, inflicted on the doctor must be traced to the identified assailants and all connected parties. (PUNCH)

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