By Matthew Tabe
The University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, Kwara state on Wednesday disclosed the reasons why it seized a corpse of a deceased patient and arrested one of its sons for beating a medical doctor.
Nigerian Tribune reports that three family members of the deceased, one Alhaji Saliu, on Tuesday reportedly beat up a medical doctor in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Wing of the UITH following what they described as nonchalant attitude of medical staff leading to the death of their relative.
It was gathered that trouble started shortly after the news of the death of their relative, a butcher, said to be suffering from blood cancer, was announced at the hospital.
The butcher was said to have been rushed to the facility on Tuesday after he suffered complication when he reportedly returned from a business trip.
Narrating the incident, a relative of the deceased, Mr. Abdul, said the hospital had held on to the corpse because of the incident.
We were surprised to see doctors coming to attend to us several hours later after a medical personel who saw our plight confirmed he was dead. That infuriated the relatives and they reacted by descending on one of the doctors that came. Since then, they have vowed not to release the corpse unless we produce some other people that beat the doctor”, he said.
When contacted, the Head, Corporate Affairs Unit (CAU) of the UITH, Mrs. Elizabeth Ajiboye, on behalf of the hospital management, confirmed the development, saying that, doctors under the aegis of Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (ARD) in the hospital are protesting the assault, “urging the Management of the hospital against the release of the corpse without arresting and prosecuting the culprits”.
Mrs. Ajiboye, who urged members of the public to stop attacks on health workers, said that the patient case was presented late with severe complications.