23/12/2023
A CONVICTED CHILD KIDNAPPER, A SERIAL RA**ST AND AN "ATHENRY" NURSE WHO STABBED A COLLEAGUE WITH A SEDATIVE FILLED SYRINGE... WERE ALL EMPLOYED WITHIN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN IRELAND
By Suzie D.
Remember that time you hilariously tried to stick a needle in and drug your female colleague with the intention of making her laugh? No?
African KOFI KYEREMATENG KANKAM (53), a psychiatric nurse at Galway UH, STABBED HIS FEMALE COLLEAGUE WITH A SYRINGE IN AN ATTEMPT TO SEDATE HER with strong antipsychotic medication, which he later claimed was a "PRANK GONE WRONG". He claims he never meant to harm her.
Common sense would indicate that if a male attempts to administer a sedative to a female without consent or medical reason, then his motive were likely sinister and perhaps sexual in nature.
It was reported at the time that Mr. Karkam was from "from" Athenry, Galway.
The victim, Emer Hyland, was sitting in the nurses station when she felt a sharp pinch in her left side and saw blood coming from her side. She said she had not been engaging with Mr. Kankam in any "banter", despite his claims and she had her back to him.
Of course, even if they had been joking together in some way beforehand, who stabs someone with syringe and tries to inject a drug into them as some sort of joke?
Mr Karkam was sentenced to 12 months in 2019. He had been working as a nurse in Ireland for 10 years at the time of the attack. Mr. Karkam asked that his custodial sentence be suspended so he would not be disqualified from nursing.
This week a committee found him guilty of "professional misconduct" for the assault (several years after it took place). Four further allegations were proven. Mr. Kankam failed to observe obvious warning signs that an elderly patient’s condition had deteriorated. An expert witness stated that the patient was showing symptoms of “severe sepsis”. The patient had signs of multi organ failure. It was not reported in MSM whether the patient died as a result.
There is a current HSE recruitment drive to hire foreign nurses and a moratorium on hiring Irish nurses, meaning our nurses are leaving. While many foreign nurses are extremely hardworking and a welcome addition to the health service, questions need to be asked about how well background checks are done and how thoroughly qualifications are being checked.
Recruitment companies within Ireland are heavily incentivised for hiring non Irish nurses. Does this mean that there is a chance that documentation might not be too closely assessed?
The HSE allows those awaiting completion of a background checks to work with vulnerable people provided they are supervised. But who is enforcing this? Particularly in profit driven "public private partnerships" it is hard to imagine profits are sidelined to ensure adequate supervision.
Mr. Karkam was obviously a clear risk to patients and colleagues alike? For how long did the hospital know this? Was he even qualified? Did he have a criminal record that was not ascertained?
Recently the case of EMMANUAL ADENIJI (52) caught the publics attention. Adeniji entered Ireland from Nigeria without a valid visa in the year 2000 - before, shortly afterwards, lodging an application for asylum claiming he was the victim of religious persecution. He went on to r**e several nursing home patients (most had dementia). The patients who reported being r**ed were disbelieved at the time.
Earlier this year management at the Mater Hospital Dublin investigated how a convicted child abductor managed to pass Garda vetting and gain employment at the hospital.
Hygeine worker, CONSTANTIN MAXIM (48), had convictions for corruption and abduction of a child. He served a five-year jail sentence for possessing child abuse material also.
How many more predators are lurking within hospitals and other care settings?
One thing is for sure, cases like the ones mentioned here were not the first of their kind and they certainly won't be the last.
