‘Hospitals Are Not War Zones’, Aproko Doctor Blasts EFCC Over Alleged Assault on Doctor in Uyo
...Urges President Tinubu, Health Minister to Act
Nigerian doctor and health advocate, Chinonso Egemba, popularly known as Aproko Doctor, has condemned the alleged assault on medical personnel by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), describing the incident as an attack on Nigeria’s fragile healthcare system.
Reacting to the incident on Wednesday, Egemba accused EFCC operatives of turning a hospital into a “war zone” after allegedly storming the facility with masked men, firing teargas within the hospital premises and arresting Prof. Eyo Ekpe, a cardiothoracic surgeon.
“Yesterday, EFCC committed an abomination in Akwa Ibom State,” Aproko Doctor said.
According to him, Prof. Ekpe was preparing for surgery when armed operatives allegedly invaded the hospital to verify medical reports linked to a fraud investigation.
He claimed the operatives fired teargas inside the hospital, causing panic among patients and healthcare workers.
“Patients ran, people on drips ran,” he stated, adding that members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) alleged that the professor was beaten, handcuffed and dragged out of the hospital alongside other staff members.
Aproko Doctor questioned the justification for such an operation within a healthcare facility, arguing that even if the EFCC’s claim that previous letters sent to the hospital were ignored was true, it did not warrant what he described as a violent invasion.
“In what country does an unanswered letter justify teargas in a ward?” he asked.
The medical doctor lamented the wider consequences of the incident on patients whose treatments and surgeries were disrupted. “This Professor Ekpe had a patient on the table. We don’t know that person’s name, we don’t know if they made it, but we already know that the person is already a casualty.”
Egemba also listed other potential victims of the disruption, including pregnant women awaiting surgeries, dialysis patients and newborns in intensive care whose nurses allegedly fled during the chaos.
“When you are attacking a hospital, you are not just attacking one man, you are injuring everybody he was about to save,” he decried.
The health advocate warned that incidents such as this could worsen Nigeria’s growing brain drain in the medical sector, noting that the country already faces a severe shortage of specialist doctors.
“We have less than 80 cardiothoracic surgeons for over 220 million Nigerians,” he said. “Uyo has only one, which is this particular surgeon. The entire state lost its surgery capacity in one afternoon because of EFCC.”
He equally warned that younger doctors witnessing the incident may become further discouraged from practising in Nigeria. “We are not just losing Professor Ekpe today, we are losing every other doctor who has watched this and decided that Nigeria is not safe for them anymore.”
Egemba called for accountability, urging the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, to publicly discipline the officers involved in the operation, apologise to Ekpe, the hospital and Nigerians, and publish clear operational guidelines for engagements involving health institutions.
He further appealed to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, to push for legislation declaring hospitals protected zones, similar to schools and places of worship.
“Hospitals must be declared protected zones by laws,” he noted, while also calling on President Bola Tinubu to act swiftly.
“Your administration cannot ask doctors to stay when our agencies are hunting them inside our own theatres. One word from you fixes this, we are waiting for your word,” he added.
The Nigerian Medical Association in Akwa Ibom commenced an indefinite strike following the incident, as concerns continue to grow over the impact of the dispute on patient care in the state.
