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| Pacards-wielding nurses protest Dr Nana's torture |
Dr .Nana Theophile,a young medical doctor at the Buea Regional Hospital Annex, was Wednesday( last night )at about 2 :00 AM held at gunpoint, dragged into a nearby army camp and severely beaten by a gendarme who accused the physician who was on night duty of failing to rescue his dying girlfriend, Patience. The gendarme officer is said to be married man.
At the time of posting this report the personnel of the hospital had downed their tools in protest of the military brutality suffered by their colleague, Nana Theophile, who incidentally won the hospital‘s 2010 Best Doctor of the Year Award.
Placards-wielding nurses staged street demonstrations, cursing unscrupulous military men who are fond of torturing unarmed civilians. Regional authorities were also meeting with senior health professionals including members of the Cameroon Medical Council, to review the incident and perhaps take necessary actions.
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| Buea Hospital gate sealed off to prevent patients coming in |
Dr. Peter-Louis Ndifor, executive member of Cameroon Medical Council, who rushed to the hospital to hold meeting with colleagues, expressed total disappointment at the torture of Dr. Nana. He stressed it was high time the public started giving doctors the dignity and respect they deserve for trying to save lives.
By midday today, this reporter witnessed how a battered Dr. Nana was being evacuated to the Douala Reference Hospital for greater medical attention.
That night, as the angry gendarme officer rough-handled and was dragging Dr.Nana into their camp, which shares boundary with the hospital, some panic-stricken nurses and in-patients who watched helplessly wept. Some nurses were spotted removing their hospital uniform/jackets for fear that more soldiers might come and beat up other hospital staff.
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| People in pensive mood inside Buea Hospital |
Others had quickly alerted the regional security chiefs and the Mayor of Buea, Charles Mbella Moki who doubles as the chair of the hospital management committee of the strange happening. Mayor Moki expressed regrets with what happened, just as did Dr. Njie Mbome, director of the Hospital.
Alerted,a team of security men had rushed to the scene and rescued Dr. Nana, who had reportedly been given what witnesses described as military punches and slaps by gendarmes .A hospital staff who witnessed the scene told this reporter that one of the seemingly killer-punches sent the doctor crashing to the ground; he collapsed- a situation that frightened other staff making them fear that the doctor might have shot.
The doctor sustained injuries and complained of body pains.
As the story goes, when the gendarme officer’s girl friend, whose name we only got as Patience was rushed to the hospital that night, Dr .Nana attended to her and admitted her. Taken to the female in-patient ward, Patience started screaming and complaining of excruciating abdominal pains. When the gendarme sent for the doctor the latter was reportedly busy with another patient. Before Dr. Nana could come there, Patience had died .That provoked the anger of the armed boyfriend, who thought that if the doctor had rushed immediately Patience would not have died.
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| Ambulance taking Dr. Nana to Douala for intensive care |
Angered the gendarme officer then fell on the doctor and dragged him out of the hospital, threatening hell to him as they entered the military camp.
“When I tried to block the gendarme from dragging the doctor out of the hospital, He pulled out his gun and threatened to shoot me,” Samuel Njie, one of the hospital‘s security guards told reporters. “Please, open the gate or I shoot you”, he quoted the gendarme as saying.
After the incident, a battered and frightened Dr. Nana did not continue his night duty as he was reportedly advised by his superiors to seek protection elsewhere that night.
As at now the hospital is closed. Patients cannot consult. And authorities are holding emergency meetings here and there. It was not clear whether the gendarme officer had been detained, as no security official was willing to talk to the press.
2 comments:
Paul Biya's priority has been the"open check" to these moral deficient group of people classified as soldiers. Most of whom have lost respect for themselves, talk less of others.
The shameless adulterer instead of hiding himself picks up the courage of beating a medical doctor. I wish the name of this barbarian was posted on here so that he becomes exposed to public ridicule. It is a shame and only frustrated people can act like him. Dr. Nana, courage and I hope that this man is sanctioned and the decision made public else, he will face his deeds someday.
That's the Biya regime. I think Cameroon is the only country in the world that would have an armed officer involved in such barbaric scene and go without any sanctions. In fact, the military has been given almost unlimited powers by the governing body; making the system almost lawless. I believe it's only by God's Grace that we survive in this country
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