Kogi Nurses Protest Against Physical Assault, Demand Motivational Allowance

Protesting nurses holding placards at the Specialist Hospital, Lokoja

A group of nurses working with Kogi Specialist Hospital, Lokoja erupted in a protest on Thursday to call for an end to incessant physical assault on their colleagues by both patients and caregivers at the health facilities.

The protest commenced from the hospital premises with the aggrieved nurses were seen carrying placards matching through the wards before proceeding to the township.

Critical among the messages on their placards was the call for a halt to physical attacks by patients and their caregivers in the course of receiving medical care from the health officials.

In a chat with EbiraView, one of the nurses who preferred to be anonymous lamented the repeated attacks from patients or their loved ones on the nurses while on duty, saying such incidences always ema acted from little misunderstanding of their service delivery processes.

She noted with regret a recent situation at the specialist hospital where a nurse was beaten up to the point of breaking her hand, saying "that was not the first or second time such an incident has happened to our nurses."

The protesting nurses also used the moment to call for motivational allowance from Kogi State  government. 

While making reference to the recent generous gesture by Governor Usman Ododo to Kogi State doctors where he declared a monthly motivational allowance of Three Hundred Thousand Naira (N300,000), the nurses re-echoed their significant roles in delivering care and ensuring the well-being of the sick patients saying what was good for the good was also good for the gander.

They further urged the government to refrain from preferential treatment and maintain fairness in its reward policy to ensure collective morale boost among the health staff.

They appealed to the governor to institute measures that would nip in the bud the incessant maltreatment of their colleagues by the primary beneficiaries of their services, insisting that "enough is enough" as they cannot continue to receive pain while making others heal.