…say, ‘We sleep on the floor in the open, our babies’ lives are endangered’
- ‘We want to reunite with our families’
- Govt should come to their rescue – NGO
By Agnes Igwe, Abakaliki
No fewer than 20 nursing mothers currently being held at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, for non-payment of hospital bills, have cried out for help.
The indigent nursing mothers, including those delivered of twins, quadruplets and single babies were observed by our correspondent during a visit to the hospital’s Awaiting Bills Settlement Ward lying on mats under mosquito nets donated to them by the Ebonyi State Emergency Management Agency. But their living condition at the ABS ward is deplorable and poses a great risk to their new-born babies!
NURSING MOTHERS RECOUNT ORDEALS IN HOSPITAL
Although the indigent nursing mothers expressed gratitude to the hospital management and SEMA for giving them adequate medical attention, materials, including mattresses, mats and treated mosquito nets, as well as time to pay up their hospital bills, the women deplored their continued ‘detention’ at the medical facility. They argued that the lives of their new-born babies were being exposed to great danger by their stay at the hospital’s ABS Ward.
One of the affected nursing mothers, Mrs. Martina Nwofoke, who was delivered of a set of quadruplet at the hospital, said, “We’re suffering a lot in this ABS; no food to eat, no assistance. My major problem is that my husband and myself are just peasant farmers. No good amenities to make life better. As you can see, this environment exposes our babies to health problems because it is not conducive. We experience a lot of heat, mosquitoes bite us so much and other things we are passing through here. Our babies don’t sleep in the night because of mosquitoes. Please, assist us, we need to reunite with our families. Hospital is nobody’s home. God’s blessings to us should not turn to punishment for us.
“I had given birth to a set of sextuplets immediately after my marriage 14 years ago. They’re four girls and two boys. Now, I’m delivered of this quadruplets, two boys and two girls. The hospital management gave us a high bill of N200, 000 and my husband has paid N80,000. We can’t afford the remaining N120, 000 and that is why we were taken to this unit of the hospital by the management. I am not comfortable here and that is why I want to go home, but money is not forthcoming to enable us to clear the bills so that we can go home.
“I am a farmer and my husband is also a farmer. We have no money to clear the hospital bill and we don’t know when we will get money. We are, therefore, calling for assistance from all quarters; government, public spirited individuals, NGOS, corporate bodies to come to our aid. Life is very difficult in this ABS unit; we are no longer being taken care of because they said they have finished with us; that we have to clear our bills and go home. We were sleeping on the bare floor until last week when government brought some mattresses and mosquito treated nets to some of us. This is why you see some of us on mattresses on the ground while some, who did not get the mattresses, are still sleeping on the bare floor.”
On her part, Mrs. Ogbonnaya Patience, who had complications after giving birth to a set of twin babies in another hospital and was brought to AEFUTHA, said, “I was brought to this ABS because of the debt I owe the hospital; it is N102,210 . This amount is for my twins while I have cleared my own bill. I paid over N40,000 for my own. I gave birth in a different hospital and was brought to this hospital because I was having issues after delivery. So, I was rushed to this hospital, where I was treated. I gave birth to a single child before this set of twins. I want help to enable me to go back home.”
Similarly, a widow, who lost her husband shortly after becoming pregnant with her twin babies, Mrs. Susana Igwe, also solicited for support, saying, “No one cares about me here, I find it difficult to feed. I am seeking assistance from everywhere so that I can go home. My husband is no more alive, I am the only one carrying every responsibility in my family, even as a petty trader, owing to the sudden death of my husband.
“No one is feeding my children. I took them to my aged and sick father before coming to this hospital, not knowing my stay would be prolonged. If no public-spirited citizen or government comes to my rescue, I may even die here because I have no other relation to assist me. Exclusive breast feeding of a set of twins without assurance of the next meal is the situation I have found myself. I have no option at all.”
NGO APPEALS FOR GOVT INTERVENTION
Meanwhile, a Non-Governmental Organisation, which is primarily concerned with the welfare and wellbeing of children/families with multiple births based in Ebonyi State and known as Twins and Multiple Births Care Foundation, has called on governments at all levels in Nigeria to establish Twins and Multiple Births Trust Fund in order to ameliorate the sufferings of parents and children in such circumstances.
The Secretary, Board of Trustees of the Foundation, who is also the founder of Ebonyi Twins and Multiple Births Association as well as the Convener, Ebonyi Twins and Multiple Births Festival, Mr. Godwin Ezeaka, made the call in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, in an interview with our correspondent.
Ezeaka said that it was not enough to occasionally foot the bills of the indigent nursing mothers and allow them go home empty handed with nothing to look after their multiple births.
According to Mr. Ezeaka, caring for twins and multiple births in Nigeria should be government’s responsibility as obtainable in other countries of the world. They need sustainable empowerment on monthly basis to enable them to carter for their multiple needs. Both maternal and child care as well as their basic education, primary and secondary, should be free, especially for those of them from indigent families.
He insisted that since multiple births come with multiple challenges, governments and individuals alike should ensure they were not reduced to objects of mockery or ridicule as they were often detained in hospitals for lack of means to offset their medical bills.
According to Ezeaka, the establishment of the multiple birth health insurance scheme in Nigeria will end the era of incessant cases of the fathers/husbands of children/mothers of multiple births abandoning them and fleeing for fears of the unknown and the gory tales of some of the parents of multiple births committing suicide or dying out of depression, lack of care and distress.
He reiterated the commitment of the NGO to advocating, campaigning and fighting for the cause of twins and multiple births in
Nigeria.
