The management of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, Kwara State has seized the corpse of a patient and arrested one of the relatives of the deceased for physically assaulting a medical doctor.
It was gathered that three family members of the deceased, one Alhaji Saliu, on Tuesday, 27 December, 2022, reportedly beat up a medical doctor in the Accident and Emergency Wing of the UITH following what they described as nonchalant attitude of medical staff.
Trouble started shortly after the news of the death of their relative who was suffering from blood cancer, was announced at the hospital.
The deceased was rushed to the facility on Tuesday after he suffered complications when he reportedly returned from a business trip.
When relatives got the news of his death, they pounced one of the doctors on duty, while accusing him of negligence.
A relative of the deceased simply identified as Abdul said the hospital had held on to the corpse because of the incident.
“We rushed Alhaji Saliu to the emergency ward of UITH around some minutes after 5:00am on Tuesday and despite all our pleading for a doctor to attend to him, nobody obliged us,” he narrated.
“We were surprised to see doctors coming to attend to us several hours later after a medical personnel, 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.
The Head, Corporate Affairs Unit of the UITH, Mrs. Elizabeth Ajiboye, who confirmed the development on Wednesday, said that doctors under the aegis of Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria in the hospital were protesting the assault, “urging the management of the hospital against the release of the corpse without arresting and prosecuting the culprits.”
Ajiboye, who urged members of the public to stop attacks on health workers said that the patient’s case was presented late with severe complications.
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