The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has confirmed the escape of an abducted resident doctor, Dr Orockarrah Orock, attached to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State.
Orock, who works at the UNTH Anesthesia Department, was kidnapped on Saturday night while on duty in the hospital premises.
The Chairman of the NMA, Enugu State Chapter, Dr Celestine Ugwoke, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday, saying Orock miraculously escaped after the kidnappers were satisfied with the offer to pay the ransom demanded by his wife and went to have a "nice time with their weeds and spirits and fell into deep sleep."
He claimed that the kidnapped doctor crawled out from the place where he was imprisoned in the kidnappers' den and subsequently walked and ran a distance before spotting human activity and emerging near the Four Corner Junction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway.
“He called his wife and the wife called the UNTH chief security officer who picked him up that midnight of Saturday. We are profoundly grateful to God for his miraculous escape,” he said.
The Chairman, on the other hand, stated that doctors have become endangered professionals in the state, since kidnappers frequently target them, particularly those working in tertiary health institutions.
“We are really in trouble as doctors are now their target and we are living in fear as the kidnappers now chase us as if they are chasing rats,” he said.
The Chairman said that if any more doctors were kidnapped at UNTH, doctors at the teaching hospital would be forced to shut down and that this warning would be extended to other tertiary hospitals in the state.
Ugwoke stated that the association would meet with UNTH's Chief Medical Director (CMD) to demand the publication of the hospital's security procedure to protect the safety of all doctors, management staff, and patients.
“We also want the hospital management to beef up security within the hospital, ensure adequate perimeter fencing of the entire hospital and installation of Close Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) and its monitoring base within the hospital.
