Following the allegation that she pricked the eyes of a newborn baby to avenge an academic carryover, the management of Usman Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital in Sokoto has placed a nurse, Folashade Adeshina, on an indefinite suspension.
Chief Medical Director of the facility, Dr Anas Sabir, revealed that the nurse who has since been arraigned and remanded at the central correctional centre in Sokoto, remains suspended pending the outcome of her trial.
“If she is found guilty and convicted, we may sack her. But she is currently on indefinite suspension.
“We have started investigating the matter before we put a stop to it due to her arrest by the police because we cannot continue investigating the case without having an interaction with her to know her level of commitment,” he said.
Recall that WuzupNigeria, two weeks ago, reported how a former non-academic staff of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Asma’u Ahmad Tijjani had accused a nurse at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Folashade Adesina, injured her newborn baby over a carryover allegation.
According to Daily Trust, Asma’u alleged that the nurse used an injection needle to prick the eye of her infant few minutes after she was born to avenge a carryover she got at the Sokoto Study Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) where she worked as a non-academic staff.
An emotional Asma’u recalled that a week to her date of delivery, the nurse came to see her over a private discussion.
“Immediately we came out from my office, she started asking some questions. She wanted to know when I would go to the hospital and my expected date of delivery, as well as my names in full.
“This really surprised me because that was the first time I was having a one-on-one discussion with her, so I refused to reveal all this information to her.
“She then told me that she was in possession of my medical record and knew everything about me and only wanted to help.
“When my pregnancy was due for delivery and I was taken to the labour room, precisely on the 15th of June, the same woman came and stood by my bed, speaking Yoruba language to the nurse that was attending to me. This made me very uncomfortable because I did not know her mission. So I complained to my nurse, who pleaded with her to leave the place,” she said.
She continued, “Immediately after my delivery, my nurse started preaching to me to always try to be kind to the people I deal with, especially in my workplace. She said the nurse I complained about told her that I gave her a carryover.
“I was shocked to hear this because I am not a teaching staff of the university and have no business with students’ scripts. So how could I give her a carryover?
“When my husband came, the same woman came and collected my baby, saying she was taking her to him. I asked one of the doctors present at the time to follow her, but she declined.
“After some minutes, she brought the baby back, and when I received her, I noticed some blood coming out from her eyes, so I started crying and shouting; and before you knew it, the labour room was filled with hospital staff.”
“When they realised what happened, they all rushed out to look for that nurse, but she was nowhere to be found and her phone was switched off.
“The baby was taken to the eye section of the hospital for examination, where it was confirmed that both her eyes were pricked, but the object did not penetrate the two lenses.
“The nurse, however, came the following morning with a basket of cooked food, which I rejected, on the ground of what she did to my baby.
“My relatives who were with me at the time started beating her before she was rescued by her colleagues.”
Asma’u pleaded with the hospital authorities and state government to secure justice for her baby.
As of the time of filing this report, the condition of the baby is said to have improved as she has been discharged from the hospital.
The only dilemma of the parents and doctors is the status of her sight which will only be known with time.
