Nurses at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH, Calabar in Cross River State have expressed outrage over the alleged illegal arrest and detention of three of their colleagues.
The incident, which caused tension within the hospital community, occurred when some armed police officers stormed the facility following an invitation by a patient’s relative who accused the nurses of being responsible for a missing SIM card belonging to the patient.
The Chairman, National Association of Nurses and Midwives Association, UCTH Chapter, Mrs. Enoobong Okon frowned at the way the nurses were invited for questioning only for them to be detained in their uniforms after they rendered their due services to the patient who later passed on.
“There has actually been an issue we’ve been following up for a week now at the emergency unit of the hospital. A patient was brought to the facility in a very bad condition and was unconscious. He was bleeding through the nose, ears and mouth.”
“In our usual way, the nurses on duty swung into action and did all they had to do. However, problem came up when we got to know that the patient’s mother engaged the police in a petition that her son didn’t have an accident, but that it was actually a murder case.”
“The woman accused the nurses of being in possession of a missing SIM card in one of the two phones belonging to the patient because upon the death of the patient, the nurses were the ones that handed over his belongings to his mother that came around the following day. The police, in the course of investigation, felt that they should interrogate the nurses that attended to the patient.”
Mrs. Okon maintained that the action of the police was not right especially in an era where few nurses across the country are left with the huge task of attending to many Nigerian patients as a result of the brain drain syndrome that has hit the health sector, as well as the harsh work environment they are exposed to.
“We are civil Nigerians, we believe that it is not out of place to invite our colleagues for interrogation but we were surprised when we were told that they had been detained and the question was why would they detain nurses who came out to render medical care, nurses who came out to work in the face of hardship, dilapidated structures, brain drain, and lack of adequate facilities to work with,” she noted.
Mrs wondered why the nurses would be detained in their uniforms pointing out that “the police told us that they just wanted to interrogate our nurses but they ended up arresting them. Information that got to us was that the Commissioner of Police directed that they should be detained at different police stations within the Calabar metropolis. Imagine them treating us like common criminals, and that got the nurses very infuriated and that was why we came out in our numbers and decided to shut down services because we don’t understand why we should not be protected in the course of rendering care. l think we deserve a better treatment.”
Also, the Vice Chairman of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives Association, UCTH chapter, Mr Sunday Ogbeche called on relevant authorities to step in and ensure that nurses are protected in the course of giving medical and emotional support rather than being exposed to intimidation.
“Three of our nurses were invited for questioning by the police. They got here around 1pm in the afternoon. They are actually investigating a case bothering on a patient that was brought in to the accident and emergency department of the hospital on the 29th and 30th of April, 2025. The case has it that the patient was on a mini bus and he opened the door of the mini bus and fell out, sustaining different degrees of injuries and as at the time he got to the teaching hospital, he was bleeding from the nose, the ears and the mouth. So the nurses on duty in our usual way, tried to resuscitate him. They did all they could but the patient could not make it. He later died. From the information we gathered, the patient was brought to the hospital by some good Samaritans and shortly after they brought him, they left. The patient had two phones with him and some belongings.”
He further explained that “when the mother was contacted and she came to the hospital, the belongings of the deceased were handed over to her. The woman then said it was the nurses that called her to tell her about the incident. Now the SIM card cannot be found, so she reported the matter to the police that the nurses were in possession of the missing SIM card. The police later came to the hospital, got the legal department of the hospital involved and requested that they wanted to see the nurses that were on duty the day the patient was brought to the hospital. The legal unit said they would not just release the nurses to them without an official invitation. And invitation was issued, that was on Friday, requesting that they should come to the Station. The nurses got there and were interrogated and after that, we were told that the Commissioner of Police asked that they should be detained and we tried to find out why our colleagues were detained and they were detained in their nurses’ uniform and the people they detained were actually professionals trained on emergency management. So, they actually knew what they were doing. They did nothing wrong to be detained in the first place.”
Also speaking, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Nursing, Mr. Koko-Bassey Esu appealed to the authority concerned for a thorough investigation into the matter to unravel the circumstance that led to the death of the deceased.
“We are calling for calm between the nurses and the police. For now, we want the police to conduct a thorough investigation to find out what killed the deceased and also look into the SIM card matter. The government is interested in also having a comprehensive analysis of what happened,” Mr Esu stated
The three nurses arrested and detained have been released following concerted efforts of the State government, the management of the UCTH and other concerned organizations.
Source: Maria Ewa, FRCN Calabar.
