SAVED🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

 So this happened almost two months back...

I had just finished evening rounds at about 11:30pm and was returning to my room to retire for the night, praying that I wouldn't be called back to the wards for anything. Got to the floor of the building and met about three weirdly dressed suspicious-looking men whispering to one another in Yoruba. Mine isn't so good so I'm just gonna write out their conversation in English.

"Where are the others?!"

"They said they are on their way here already"

"They better hurry. It will soon be midnight as we planned earlier"

My piloerector muscles jumped immediately and I felt the blonde hairs on my skin rise!
Omg! Gave myself a quick glance and was so glad I was casually dressed in jogger shorts and a big T-shirt without my clinical coat or even my stethoscope. At least I couldn't be identified as a doctor just in case..

Halted my thoughts quickly and walked as calmly as I could past them to my room. Locked my door and windows and checked what was happening on the whatsapp group for houseofficers as I was so sure I had missed out on something that must have happened during day that I was too busy to check then.

I wasn't wrong. Apparently one of the heads of the "agberos" in the area was really ill and had been brought to the emergency but before a bed could be made available for him, he'd passed on. The agberos subsequently blamed the hospital for the death of their Oga and began vandalizing the place. They broke the protector gate and the glass sliding doors and began to beat up every doctor in white coat and nurse in uniform they could find. This went on for about an hour before the security operatives could control the situation.

As the agberos ran away there were reports that they shouted promises of returning for a final showdown at midnight. And truly they did.

By this time messages began entering the group chat about how everyone was hiding in toilets and storerooms in the emergency. People were trying to locate friends and colleagues. There was pandemonium everywhere! Even doctors in clinical coats on the hospital premises were not spared as some were even stabbed with broken bottles. Nurses were said to have stripped and run away from the hospital buildings in their underwear! Luckily no one was shot.

I eventually slept off in fear. As soon as I woke up I checked the group chat. No one wanted to resume work that morning for fear that the hospital was still not safe. I eventually did but not until it was almost noon. I'd never seen the emergency that way before in my six year stay here...totally deserted. There were a few patients, but no doctors, no nurses, no security men anywhere.

They eventually resumed alright like nothing happened, about a week after the whole incident. No apologies to anyone, not even sure treatment cost for those injured were taken care of by the management. Broken doors and windows were repaired and work continued. This country we live in ehh! Sigh

I don't even want to think about what would have happened that night had I been wearing my clinical coat or even carried a stethoscope on! I'm just grateful God ordered my steps that night or I'd have just been another statistic. I'm also glad no one died that day.

Only the Almighty God is saving us in this country, I tell you. As for our leaders...smh.

God's got us!