The chief medical director (CMD) of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Prof. Emem Abasi Bassey, has expressed concern over the invasion of the medical institution by masked operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), causing a steer after several gunshots and teargas canisters were fired in the air.
The EFCC team, it was learnt were drafted to the UUTH, to arrest one Prof. Eyo Ekpe, to retrieve a medical report of a suspect currently being prosecuted by the anti – graft agency, but met resistance as other medical professionals tried to stop the arrest.
Addressing journalists yesterday, CMD Bassey, though acknowledged the right of EFCC to effect arrest of suspects, he pointed out that such action should be made to follow the due process of presenting arrest warrant and other civil processes.
No fewer than five senior employees of the institution some with asthmatic ailments and other breathing issues have been hospitalised at the emergency unit of the institution following sporadic shooting by masked EFCC operatives who raided the hospital to effect the arrest.
Therefore, medical services have been paralysed indefinitely across all public hospitals in the 31 local government areas beginning after the medical professionals called out their members to proceed on indefinite strike.
“Several teargas canisters and gunshots to the air, were fired to scare the workers who tried to resist the arrest of a senior medical consultant and Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), Prof. Eyo Ekpe,” a senior nursing officer at the hospital told our Correspondent.
Expressing dismay at what he described as an “unfortunate action” of invading the hospital, Prof. Bassey, sought a total resolution of the crisis and appealed to his colleagues to end the strike in the interest of the stranded patients.
The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in the state chaired by Dr. Aniekan Peters, regretted the EFCC unruly action, disclosing that the invasion of the hospital has put many patients in a traumatic situation with many at the risk of death, disclosing that the arrested Thoracic expert was about to operate on a patient before his arrest.
Lamenting over the invasion by the anti- graft agency’s operatives, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the NMA, Dr. Gabriel Eyo, said the withdrawal of medical professionals indefinitely from their work schedules, was in solidarity with the arrested Thoracic expert and others affected by the incident.
He said: “Well, we do not know the full story of the incident, but in the early hours of this morning, masked men who we did not see their faces, wearing the EFCC jacket, stormed into the hospital premises, walked into the office of the Deputy Chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), Prof. Eyo Ekpe.
“They dragged him, beat him to pulp like a common criminal. When members of staff, students and other health workers walking into the hospital tried to resist them, they shot sporadically into the air in the hospital premises to disperse the crowd with tear gas.
“Even when they reached the hospital gates, when the hospital security saw what was happening, they locked the gates, and the members of the EFCC, knocked and forceful gained entrance into the premises.
“The Professor of Cardiothoracic surgery, the only one we have in our State. Anyway, we don’t know what he has done, but we don’t really care at this point. Whatever he did, due process must be followed for this kind of thing.
“Even the politicians who steal money in millions, in billions, even criminals are not treated this way. The only thing that should have been done would have been to send an invite, which was not done.
“If you want to carry him, why not carry him from his premises? Why wait for him to come to the hospital?,”he queried, disclosing that he was even operating on a patient, or was about to operate on a patient when they whisked him away in such manners.
“Very demoralizing, very traumatic. That man, I heard he was even bleeding from his head. That man may have been exposed to severe traumatic brain injury.
“Imagine the psychosocial trauma that he may never recover from. How would his students see him now?
Would he ever be able to be in a situation of returning to the hospital to save lives?,” he asked.
“A lot of injured people that were asthmatic. I think our NMA Chairman man is asthmatic, so he is having reactions to the tear gas because plenty people will struggle and we can’t actually quantify the figure as of this point in time.
“Other staff of the new the UUTH were actually whisked away in the process. Those ones are heavily registered. Those ones too, I think about four or five of them.
The Commissioner of Police (CP), Baba Azare, who confirmed the incident, exonerated his men alleged to have been part of the raid with the EFCC, disclosing that he only drafted his Police operatives to the scene to ascertain the true identity of the EFCC officials.
