Benue nurse stabbed on duty seeks help

Luckily, Serki who is presently on admission at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital

Janet Serki, a nurse with the Primary Health Centre (PHC) Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, who is currently writhing in pains from injury inflicted on her by another woman still wonders why anyone wanted her dead to the extent of stabbing her with a sharp object while at her duty post.

Luckily, Serki who is presently on admission at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) survived the attack, except that much needs to be done for her to fully recover.

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To this end, a referral to the National Hospital Abuja had been handed to her by medics at BSUTH but she has no financial capacity to move from Makurdi as recommended, to end her nightmares of severe pains.

The referral letter, issued on July 29, 2021, indicated that the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) conducted on Serki proved a case of post traumatic cervical cord transaction at C6 vertebrae.

A C6 vertebrae is said to be a spinal cord injury which affects the cord near the base of the neck and such injuries could result in loss of sensation or function of everything in the body.

This situation worries the ailing nurse who believes that she does not deserve to be on the sick bed, let alone for reasons she still couldn’t fathom.

Serki said someone had stabbed her from behind while at work at about 7pm on June 30, 2021 in an intent to end her life.

She narrated, “On June 30, at about 7pm, I went to pick my phone from where I had plugged it to boost the battery. Someone held on the hair from behind. The next thing I felt, I was stabbed. I lost consciousness and only woke up in the hospital.

“I had on that fateful day concluded the immunisation exercise and was completing the necessary forms when I got up to pick my phone from where it was charging and to also get snacks, when the incident occurred.

“I was told that it was a woman that did it. Her name is Angela Uker, a student nurse at Kadarko.

“For the past one month now that I have been lying down here, I’ve never known sleep. I am in severe pains due to my bones. My legs are lifeless.”

A closer observation, however, showed that Serki was stabbed in three places including the posterior border of her left sternocleidomastoid muscle (the neck triangle which rotates the head to the opposite side and also flexes the neck) and in two places on her forearm.

According to Serki, the motive behind the attack is not clear to her as she recalled that apart from when they (the attacker and Serki) participated in last year’s Yellow Fever Immunisation, they have never met or had anything to do together.

The nurse further said that her attacker fled but her husband, one Thaddeus Uker, was apprehended by the Police who later released him to go and produce his wife.

However, she said that the man never returned or produced his wife as ordered by the police.

Serki also alleged that her attacker’s family continues to brag that she (suspected attacker) will get away with the offence because no one would press for justice on her behalf.

In the meantime, all the ailing nurse wants from good spirited individuals and the government to enable her meet with a neurosurgeon at the National Hospital is an estimated N5million.

Her elder sister – Judith Gbamkuran, also appealed to the public to come to the aid of her sibling who requires at least N5million to get the desired medical attention at the National Hospital Abuja.

Efforts to reach the suspected attacker’s family for their side of the story did not yield fruitful result at the time of filing this report.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Catherine Anene, confirmed the incident, but with a twist that suggested that the victim and her attacker’s husband were having a romantic affair.

Anene said the command was informed by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the area where the incident happened that the victim, Serki, and the husband of her attacker, Mr Uker, were at a drinking joint when the latter’s wife out of jealousy traced them and attacked the nurse.

The PPRO said the man was arrested and told to produce his wife, adding that, however, that the woman (attacker) hadn’t been seen until date.