- Deaths need not cast our hospital in bad light – CMD
- Lagos government yet to disclose cause of Akwa Ibom CP’s death at LASUTH
- I’m now afraid going to hospital, says mother of deceased boy with missing intestines
Ever since she lost her 12-year-old son, Adebola Akin-Bright to alleged medical negligence and unprofessionalism, Mrs. Deborah Abiodun has developed a phobia for healthcare services.
Being realistic with the fact that as a human being, she cannot do away with seeking medical treatment, Mrs. Abiodun has to go into intense prayer whenever she is about stepping her feet into health facilities.
Mrs. Abiodun’s panic mode towards medical practice in Nigeria was activated in September 2023 after the tragic death of her son, Adebola following the alleged missing intestines of the boy after a surgery at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
Her case is one out of many Nigerians who have experienced the harsh consequences of alleged medical negligence and unprofessionalism at Nigerian hospitals, both public and private.
LASUTH, has however been pronounced among hospitals that have been rocked with questionable deaths of patients.
After spending about 28 days at LASUTH, small part of the intestines of Adebola Akin-Bright was allegedly missing and less than three weeks after Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State had promised to take the medical care of the boy, he died on September 19, 2023.
“There is nothing I can do to bring back Debola, the only thing is to keep his memory alive and that is all I could do. I have sat down and thought about it, that if I say I want to continue to fight and seek for justice, you know that LASUTH is a government hospital, fighting them is something and I have been going for an inquest and all that and the whole thing is tiring”
Disturbed by the public outcry that greeted Adebola’s demise and circumstances surrounding it, the Lagos State Government had set up a coroner inquest into the boy’s death.
However, The Point gathered that the findings of the coroner are yet to be made public.
A year after the death of Adebola, LASUTH has been in the news again following the controversial death of the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police, Waheed Ayilara.
Ayilara was reported to have died in the early hours of Thursday, August 29, 2024 at LASUTH where he underwent prostate cancer surgery.
His death has, however, generated controversies as some alleged the hospital of mismanagement.
Again, the state government set up a panel of inquiry to probe the death of the Commissioner of Police even as some family members point accusing fingers on some medical personnel who attended Ayilara.
I’ve left Adebola’s case for God to judge – Mother
Owing to the slow pace and tedious nature of the coroner inquest, Mrs. Deborah Abiodun said she has left the case for God to judge months after “nothing was heard from the coroner.”
In an interview with The Point, she recalled how hearing into the matter commenced and stalled, saying, “I petitioned the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria in October last year and after some months, they called us in May this year and we went into hearing. I explained my side of the story and the private hospital and LASUTH also did the same. The MDCN indicted the private hospital for professional misconduct; the consultant at LASUTH was also indicted one way or the other but I have not heard anything about that.”
Asked about the step LASUTH management initially took after her son’s death, Mrs. Abiodun stated, “Though, at the initial stage when we lost Debola, LASUTH was trying to pay the money we spent at their hospital but when they now discovered that I petitioned MDCN, I think they changed their mind. The first two surgeries were done at a private hospital. The whole process started from a private hospital. LASUTH was charged for professional misconduct
“When we discovered what happened, they (LASUTH management) told me I should go and ask the private hospital when they actually knew what happened; and they didn’t come out fully to tell us what actually happened. After we had spent 28 days at the hospital, they just told me that I should go back to the private hospital doctor and that he should be able to tell me what happened.”
On her impression about medical practice in the country generally and whether she still finds it convenient assessing medical care after the death of Adebola, she said, “There are lots of improvements that must be done. There is no way I will not use the hospital. It is just unfortunate that Debola is one of the victims but notwithstanding, with God, we will keep pushing. That is just my slogan. I am just coming from the General Hospital where I took my daughter to, what I found there is better than what I saw last time. I think the government is trying to improve the public hospitals. I think more has to do with the personality and the nonchalant attitudes of some medical personnel.
According to her, medical personnel’s alleged nonchalant attitudes to duties would continue if the law does not use someone as a scapegoat, adding, “Because nobody has been prosecuted or paid for anything, they don’t know the extent of the havoc they are causing.”
“Whenever I am visiting the hospital now, I am always scared. I will always go for a kind of prayer because what happened to Debola was just a minor thing that couldn’t have caused his death. It is a scary thing for me going to the hospital but we are still alive and when there is need to go to the hospital, I will still go but I will have to do a vigil and pray over it that God should guide and lead me to a very good doctor because not everyone one of them is bad.
“When we were at LASUTH, there were doctors that were good. There is one particular doctor at LASUTH, he will take his time to explain what is happening to a patient and even when there is no hope, the man will always give us hope. So, it is not all of them that are bad. Like the private doctor, he has a whole lot of errors that he committed before it even got to LASUTH.
“If you go to Nigerian hospitals and you come back alive, know that God is still on your side. It is a scary situation,” she bemoaned.
Revealing more reasons why she had to let go of the case and how she has been coping since the demise of her son, Mrs. Abiodun said, “There is nothing I can do to bring back Debola, the only thing is to keep his memory alive and that is all I could do. I have sat down and thought about it, that if I say I want to continue to fight and seek for justice, you know that LASUTH is a government hospital, fighting them is something and I have been going for an inquest and all that and the whole thing is tiring.”
“I have also had my own health issues which I discovered during the course of this whole matter and of which I have to take care of. So, that is why I have to leave everything for God. Let God take them up. You know how Nigeria is; getting justice is a long process. I did not see it as a waste of time asking for justice for my boy but I just felt what the need is? Although, if I had the money, I would have done it but I just have to let some things go because of my health so that I can also be alive to take care of the remaining one,” she added.
Deaths need not cast our hospital in bad light, says LASUTH CMD
However, the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, told The Point that the hospital needed not to be put in bad light in the midst of controversial deaths that have greeted it.
Fabamwo made this assertion even as the hospital is yet to make public the probe report on the death of Ayilara.
Recall that a high-powered panel of inquiry has been set up to look into the death of the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police, Ayilara.
The state Commissioner of Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, had directed the hospital to set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the controversies raised in the death of the late Commissioner of Police.
“We have a very good idea of why he died but we will release a guarded official statement after the panel submits its findings next week,” Fabamwo was quoted as saying.
When The Point contacted the CMD on Friday to ask if the panel had submitted its report on the death of Ayilara, Fabamwo said “the findings of the panel will be disclosed by the Commissioner for Health.”
“No panel was set up by LASUTH. It was set up by the Ministry of Health and the findings of the panel will be disclosed by the Commissioner for Health,” he stressed.
Asked whether LASUTH was not worried about its image and controversy for being in the news for the wrong reasons all the time, Fabamwo said, “It is very uncharitable to say LASUTH is always in the news for wrong reasons. A lot of good clinical work is going on in LASUTH and we receive many commendations.”
On the hospital’s assurance to the public of the confidence of its personnel and equipment, he stated, “We are committed to excellent care delivery. This case in point needs not cast our hospital in a bad light. There are many post-surgical events that may be lethal in the best of hospitals.”
A public affairs analyst, Alex Nwadike, who said he once visited LASUTH for treatment, noted that the hospital is “a very important hospital” that should not be embroiled in controversy.
Nwadike also lamented that ordinary Nigerians do not have people who can speak up for them when they are unfairly treated in the hospital.
He said, “It is very unfortunate that the tragedies in question happened in the hospital. LASUTH is a very important hospital and should not be embroiled in controversy.
“The case of the CP that died in the hospital is probably gaining a lot of attention because of the calibre of the individual involved. What about the instances when ordinary Nigerians have been treated unfairly in the hospital? Who speaks up for such people?
“I was in the hospital some years ago when I developed lupus vulgaris, that is tuberculosis ulcer, and I saw a lot of discouraging stuff there. Thank God that I came out of there with my life.
“You find nurses there who treat you like you are nothing. They act like your sickness is a burden to them. And they also speak rudely to patients.”
Nwadike declared that the number of patients the hospital receives on a daily basis affects their work, stressing that the doctors and nurses are overstretched.
“No panel was set up by LASUTH. It was set up by the Ministry of Health and the findings of the panel will be disclosed by the Commissioner for Health. It is very uncharitable to say LASUTH is always in the news for wrong reasons. A lot of good clinical work is going on in LASUTH and we receive many commendations”
He also insisted that government hospitals do not give their 100% and are not concerned about their image and controversies.
“It is possible that the number of patients they receive every day in that teaching hospital contributes to the awful manner they take their work. They are overstretched in that place.
“Why the state government has not built any additional hospital in Ikeja baffles me. If they build one more teaching hospital right there in Ikeja, will it remove anything from them? We must learn to love ourselves in this country.
“And about the hospital not being worried about its image and the controversy about being in the news for the wrong reasons, well, if you think that government hospitals will give their 100% to save the lives coming into their facility, you are mistaken.
“Most of the people there don’t give a damn about who dies. Many of the workers there believe that there won’t be repercussions even if they are careless on the job.”
Nwadike added, “The child whose intestines got missing in the hospital is another sorry case. Till this moment, I don’t understand what went wrong. I don’t also know whether the management of the hospital is ready to unravel whose carelessness led to the boy’s death.
“They have set up a committee already over the police officer’s death, but let us wait and see how far that one will go.
“Concerning how the hospital will assure the public about the competence of its personnel and equipment, I think that in this instance, actions should speak louder than words.
“Don’t just come here to tell Lagosians and Nigerians that you are competent and up to the task. Instead, let your actions do the talking for you.
“Moreover, try not to cover any hospital staff who takes his or her work with levity. We must put a stop to the nonchalant attitude of staff in our healthcare facilities.”
