Michael-Azeez Ogunsiji
ABEOKUTA - Following the reported case of mentally ill patients attacking health workers at the Neuro-psychiatric hospital, Aro, in Abeokuta, Ogun state, the management of the hospital has urged the public to regard Tuesday 7th April, 2020 incident as part of the job hazards faced by health workers in psychiatric hospital settings across the world.
The hospital management noted that the incident was not peculiar to the hospital alone, but one of the familiar challenges with which mental health practitioners are faced in the course of discharging their duties.
The management noted further that assault is not peculiar to mental health workers even health workers in general hospital settings are sometimes assaulted by the patient's relatives and physically ill patients.
The Acting Provost of the hospital, Dr. Lucky Onofa stated this while speaking on Thursday 15th April, 2020 when the editorial crew of THE ENCOUNTER NEWS visited the hospital on fact finding mission.
Emphasising that matter of a single patient attack does not amount to creating palpable fear in the Neuro-psychiatric hospital environment, Onofa stressed that mentally ill patients' attitude was not new to the hospital environment being a specialist institution that cater for people with mental disorder.
It would be recalled that THE ENCOUNTER NEWS had last Tuesday 7th April, 2020 reported that there was palpable fear among health workers following an incident where a mentally ill patient attacked a Chief Nursing Officer in the hospital.
But while conducting the news crew that were on a follow-up mission round the hospital facilities, Onofa debunked the tendency of the health workers experiencing any palpable fear in the hospital, stressing that the hospital has a multidisciplinary team which he said is at the vanguard of providing qualitative clinical services, training and research in a conducive environment with community participation and international collaboration.
He explained that the nursing personnel allegedly assaulted was quickly taken to the hospital's General Medical Practice Unit formerly known as NHIS Staff/ Community Clinic, where he was treated and discharged the following morning and has reunited with his family.
He said there is peace as usual in the hospital against the initial impression made by the fifth columnists.
To further demonstrate the cordial and harmonious working relationship existing between the hospital management and health workers, our news crew gathered that members of National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Aro chapter donated some Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) worth N.25 million recently.
The NANNM, Aro Psychiatric Hospital Chapter under its chairman, Comrade Olaoluwa Olabode donated the PPEs which comprised; face masks, hand gloves and sanitizers to the management as part of their fight against the spread of corona virus (COVID 19) in the hospital.
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