TWO persons were reportedly killed while a doctor, nurses and patients were abducted when bandits attacked Abdulsalami Abubakar General Hospital in Gulu, Lapai Local Government Area of Niger State, on Monday night.
The gunmen reportedly raided the general hospital around 2:30 am, killing two persons whose houses were located directly opposite the health centre.
According to Daily Post, the bandits abducted a medical doctor, a pharmacist, nurses as well as patients and their relatives.
Local vigilantes scampered for safety as the attackers held the local community hostage for several hours, shooting sporadically throughout their operations.
It was gathered that among the hospital staff abducted were the Head of Clinical Services, Doctor John, Head of Hematology, Usman Zabbo, and a staff member of medical laboratory unit, Awaisu Bida.
The wife of the head of nursing services and his daughters, wife and a daughter of the chief pharmacist, and many other relatives of the patients were also part of the abductees.
Several members of the community, including women and children have since fled to neighbouring communities, especially Lapai town, the local government headquarters.
“This is one of the most devastating experience. To be honest with you, Gulu General Hospital has collapsed because we cannot stay here any longer. Every staff on duty last night was taken. They just left few patients whose cases were severe. This is heartless,” a staff member who was not on duty was quoted as saying.
There are speculations that the attack was targeted at getting health personnel for the benefit of bandits in the forest.
When contacted, Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, told The ICIR on the telephone that the Command was still working on getting the actual number of victims of the attack.
He said the Command would issue a press release on the incident.
