Patients ‘raped’ at Edo Central Hospital

Patients at the Edo Central Hospital in Benin and their caregivers on Tuesday staged a protest against alleged robbery and rape in the hospital.

The patients and their caregivers, who protested around the hospital premises, appealed to the management of the institution to put in place security measures to ensure the safety of their life and property.

Some of the victims of the crimes said that the hospital lacked security, especially in the night.

They alleged that armed robbers dispossessed them of their money and other possessions and raped them.

They said some suspected bandits, who invaded the gynaecology ward, last week, robbed and raped the patients, saying that the incident lasted for several hours.

Reacting, David Osifor, the state commissioner for health,  said the incident that occurred at the hospital was a case of theft, rather than robbery and rape.

Osifor explained that the owner of the money stolen at the hospital might have disclosed it to those around her and she lost it to them.

“It happened in the female ward; it was not really an armed robbery case, it was just a minor scare and we are handling the matter,” he said.

“It is also not true that patients on admission were being raped as being speculated.”

The commissioner, who said that the police had commenced an investigation into the incident, promised that adequate security measures would be in place to forestall re-occurrence.