A doctor and some patients were allegedly assaulted by security operatives at Maitama General Hospital in Abuja on Thursday.
Dr. Okpalla Adaeze, one of the victims, told our reporter that a policeman who sought treatment in the hospital was behind the incident.
She said he lost his cool after he was rejected at one of the wards.
Adaeze said she did not attend to him because he was previously attended to at the General Outpatient Unit of the hospital.
“I quickly went to notify them they had no business at the Accident and the Emergency (A&E). I also explained that since they’ve been attended to and if they are not happy with our service, they should check elsewhere, I disn’t know what I did to him, he started beating me,” Adaeze said.
She added that it took the intervention of some patients for her to escape but he transferred his anger to two patients.
Adaze, who identified one of the officers as Ogoche Kingsley said he later called his friend, a policeman, to the hospital who in turn came along with a pistol and an AK-47 riffle.
“At first, the friend claimed to be a DSS officer, he asked Kingsley to point out those who attacked him and he pointed to the two patients around as I was hidden in the theatre. The friend later used the back of his AK-47 to hit one of the patients who just underwent a surgery.”
Jamilu Bala Muhammad, one of the assaulted patients, battered him.
He stated that policemen from Maitama Police Station were later called in and they arrested and detained the attackers.
“When we got to the station, the guy claiming to be DSS later said he was a police officer but before then, he told his friend, Kingsley, that he should tell the police that he was assaulted with chain and cutlass that was why he came to rescue,” he said.