A 24-year-old woman, Abibat Kehinde, has been abandoned with her newborn babies at the Epe General Hospital, Lagos State, over unpaid medical bills of N131,000, three months after her delivery.
Kehinde was said to have given birth to a set of twins at the hospital on March 21.
The nursing mother told the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Epe that her husband absconded after delivery without paying the bills to facilitate her discharge from the hospital.
“My husband is a commercial motorcycle rider. He absconded since I gave birth to the twins on March 21. I wasn’t ready for the second child but God knows best, ” she said.
The woman said that she lacked sufficient food to eat while the babies also lacked basic nutrients since her abandonment three months ago.
“My husband said that he couldn’t afford to feed one child, not to talk of feeding two children with their mother; and he complained about the huge hospital bill before he left.
“Since he left the hospital, he has not returned to check on me and the children till date. He abadoned us in the hospital and absconded, ” Kehinde said.
She said that she raised N30,000 only out of the total medical bill of N161,000, leaving a balance of N131,000 yet to be settled.
She added, “I have been in the hospital since March without being discharged by the management. The hospital bill keeps increasing every day and I don’t have any alternative.”
Kehinde appealed to the hospital management to discharge her and her babies.
Mr Ayanbisi Rauf, a Social Welfare Officer at the Epe General Hospital, confirmed that the woman had been abandoned by her husband.
“The husband abandoned the patient in the last three months and all efforts made by the hospital authorities to locate him proved abortive,” Rauf said.
He said that the patient would only be discharged if she paid 90per cent of her total bills. He added that two other nursing mothers with similar plight as Kehinde would remain in the hospital until they settle their bills.
He appealed to benevolent individuals and organisations to assist the women in settling their bills so that they can be discharged from the hospital.
