Medical and health workers at the Federal Medical Centre,Idi-Aba Abeokuta, Ogun State, have embarked on a 72-hour warning strike over the alleged stabbing of a medical laboratory scientist by a patient’s relative within the hospital premises.

The industrial action, which began at eleven o’clock on Monday morning, is expected to end at eight o’clock on Thursday morning, October fifteenth.

In a strike notice addressed to the hospital’s Medical Director and dated October 10 , the Joint Action Committee of the unions identified the injured worker as Mr Lawal Toheeb Olasunkanmi.

The unions said the strike was intended to express solidarity with their injured colleague and compel the hospital management to address security concerns and ensure the safety of healthcare personnel.

A medical laboratory scientist at the facility, Comrade Oladejo Abdullahi Abiodun, said he received a distress call from a colleague at about 6:30pm on Sunday evening, informing him that a scientist on duty had been stabbed in the head and was bleeding.

Comrade Abiodun said he rushed to the hospital, where he confirmed that the colleague had sustained stab injuries.

The Joint Action Committee described the incident as an attack on healthcare workers and called for urgent institutional action, as well as appropriate intervention by law enforcement authorities.

The unions are demanding a clearly defined policy against violence, threats, intimidation, harassment and physical assault against hospital staff.

They also called for an urgent meeting with the hospital management to identify security gaps and agree on concrete measures, with specific timelines, to protect workers.

The committee warned that violence against healthcare personnel must not be allowed to become normalised, insisting that workers deserve adequate protection while carrying out their professional duties.

The unions involved in the action include the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research and Allied Institutions, the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions.

As of the time of filing this report, the hospital management had yet to respond publicly to the strike notice and the unions’ demands.

It was also unclear whether the alleged assailant had been arrested or whether the police had commenced an investigation into the incident.