Sad! How a Nigerian Hospital "Killed" My Wife and Baby - Grieving Husband Narrates

Date: 05-11-2015 9:42 am (8 years ago) | Author: Bayo Nelson
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- at 5-11-2015 09:42 AM (8 years ago)
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When Omowumi Shonuga tapped her husband that her water had broken at 5 am on Thursday morning, being a sign of labour pain, anxiety took hold of him. Although he, Ayobanji

Shonuga, was remotely happy that his second child was about to be born, he was as nervous as many men would be in that situation.
As the wife’s labour pains increased, the 33-year-old man quickly packed his baby’s things and rushed her to the Rauf Aregbesola Health Centre in Egbeda. Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos. His joy and hope began to diminish when he got to the health centre and found out that the hospital gates were locked.
Shonuga said, �
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We got to the hospital around 5 am to meet the hospitals locked. I horned and horned, nobody came out. After a while a woman came out and said there was no doctor to attend to me, that I should take her to the Igando General Hospital.
“I said it was impossible for a doctor not to be on duty in a hospital as big as this. She ignored any other enquiry I was trying to make. As I got back to my car, I saw that my wife had delivered the baby and that she was in a pool of blood and she was also bleeding. It was when I started shouting, ‘Blood! Blood! Baby’ that two nurses rushed out from the hospital
.”
Moribund, grounded ambulances Shonuga related the ordeal that Omowunmi went through in the hands of health workers at the health centre last week to our correspondent, saying the hospital’s negligence had turned him into a widower. Instead of coming to his wife’s aid, Shonuga alleged, the nurses blamed him for not shouting loud enough to have attracted their attention to get the keys to open the gate .
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After they opened the gate, I drove in. One of the attendants picked the baby, but the nurses refused to touch my wife. I asked for a stretcher to take her in, they said they didn’t have. I asked for an ambulance to take her away from there, they said they were not with the keys.
“I had to carry her upstairs with no help from them because they didn’t want to touch her. They said there was no doctor to attend to her
.”
After much persuasion from him, the nurses told him to go and buy some injections and drugs that would stop the bleeding while they began stitching a cut his wife had.
She was shouting that the pain was too much while they were stitching her but they kept telling her to keep quiet. I knew something was wrong and told them to get a doctor. They said he was on his way,” he added.
We cannot handle this case, take her to Igando
Shonuga said that in spite of the stitches, Omowunmi did not stop bleeding and the doctor who came in while they were cleaning her up said they should take her to the Igando General Hospital as her case was too critical for them to handle.
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He looked at her eyeballs and said that she had lost a lot of blood and would need to be transfused but they could not do that at that moment.
“ I asked again for the ambulance so I could take her to Igando. They said they didn’t have the keys yet. It was just packed there doing nothing. It was then I asked after my baby. They kept quiet. Later, someone went out to check the room the baby was supposed to be and said the baby was no longer breathing.
“It was obvious that they abandoned the baby. I went in to carry my wife with the drip on her but insisted that they must give me a referral note and a nurse to go with me to Igando so that her case could be treated as an emergency.
“They refused until their supervisor instructed them to go with me when she heard me shouting. It took another 25 minutes before they came with a note and one of the members of staff went with me,
” Shonuga lamented.
It was a similar scenario that played out when Shonuga got to the Igando General Hospital with Omowunmi around 6am on the same day.She was rejected. Shonuga said the nurses told them to go to another hospital as there was no bed space to admit his dying wife.“For another 45 minutes, we couldn’t get a bed. After I threw a tantrum that attracted some attention, they began running up and down and said they had created a bed space for her.
They took her blood sample and insisted that they wouldn’t transfuse her till I had paid N20,000. We argued again that it was an emergency that they should go ahead but at this stage she was already losing consciousness. While they were trying to secure a drip for her, she died.”
Shonuga told our correspondent that he buried his late wife and his newborn baby later that day. Omowunmi , a graduate of Accounting from the Lagos State University, died at the age of 30, leaving a three- year-old baby girl behind. Still shaken by the circumstances that led to his wife’s death, Shonuga said he would petition authorities of the public hospitals and vowed that he would not relent until justice was served. According to the widower, Omowunmi and his baby would have been alive if health workers at the two hospitals had given them the speedy attention they deserved. “The most painful thing for me is that she suffered so much before she died. She cried and bled on and on, but that did not even move them. There was no doctor on duty and they could not give me an ambulance to handle her case. “I only took her there because that was where she had her antenatal and they knew her and her health history. If I had known I would have taken her to a private hospital.” When contacted, the Medical Officer, Alimosho Local Government, Dr. Micheal Ariyibi, said that the Ministry of Health had received a complaint and had begun an investigation into the case. The ministry, he said, would not hesitate to punish those involved in the unfortunate incident.


Posted: at 5-11-2015 09:42 AM (8 years ago) | Addicted Hero
- benny0047 at 5-11-2015 10:02 AM (8 years ago)
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This is just so so sad
Posted: at 5-11-2015 10:02 AM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
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- musleh247 at 5-11-2015 10:07 AM (8 years ago)
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This is a very sad story. This is the problem in Nigerian hospitals, just Imagine the story of this young man, how can the gate of an hospital be locked without a gateman?, and even the useless nurses could not attend to them. The authority should make sure they punish those involved in the unfortunate incident. This is absolutely not acceptable.
Posted: at 5-11-2015 10:07 AM (8 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- winace at 5-11-2015 10:44 AM (8 years ago)
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My goodness, lagos state doctors!!! And they always go on strike every slight provocation fromd govt yet they are no longer life saver but killers. How can dat big hospital don't have a doctor over night.
Wit dat horrible ugly face Rauf Aregbesola osun state governor name naim dem name d hospital. Why e no go be like dat. May their souls rest in peace. Amen
Posted: at 5-11-2015 10:44 AM (8 years ago) | Addicted Hero
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- angesco at 5-11-2015 11:09 AM (8 years ago)
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Empathy is NOT a strong point in our medical services in Nigeria. For doctors to nurses treating the ill, for them it  is just another job!

A nurse was trying to find my pulse and she could not but she still went ahead and entered a number on her observations chart.  There was no communication between us and she looked bored. And this was a QUALIFIED nurse!

The upsetting thing is that many move to Europe to work in hospitals and the inhuman attitude they show to Nigerian patients at home - they would NEVER do such in a foriegn land. In Europe they attend to you with a "smile" on the face and that patronising tone of voice of theirs.

Nothing works for us. Yesyerday a Nigetian doctor in the UK mistook one patient for another. She could not even interpret a blood result! And the young boy died as a result.

Posted: at 5-11-2015 11:09 AM (8 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- benny0047 at 5-11-2015 11:56 AM (8 years ago)
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this is just so phucked up
Posted: at 5-11-2015 11:56 AM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
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- Oways at 5-11-2015 11:58 AM (8 years ago)
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Hospital and their wahala
Posted: at 5-11-2015 11:58 AM (8 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- DaPraize at 5-11-2015 12:08 PM (8 years ago)
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This is completely unacceptable. Some people will take law into their hands and come back for a revenge with a gun. I wonder why wicked people should be allowed to work in the hospital
Posted: at 5-11-2015 12:08 PM (8 years ago) | Newbie
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- freethinker at 5-11-2015 12:20 PM (8 years ago)
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VERY SAD!
THAT COUNTRY IS ZOO
ALMOST EVERYBODY IS BEHAVING LIKE ANIMALS
Posted: at 5-11-2015 12:20 PM (8 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- gogoman at 5-11-2015 12:45 PM (8 years ago)
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Nigeria hospital dangerous pass snake
Posted: at 5-11-2015 12:45 PM (8 years ago) | Grande Master
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- Vivianciv at 5-11-2015 01:10 PM (8 years ago)
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I dnt blame any woman who choose to have their baby aboard
Posted: at 5-11-2015 01:10 PM (8 years ago) | Newbie
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- PAULOLAAIG at 5-11-2015 01:40 PM (8 years ago)
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So painful wot a wicked act, Nigeria doctors why?hv bn on same issue wen i and my mum rush my sister dey also refused to attend to us my lovely sister died in our hands.i know how u feel bro,GOD almighty wil ses u through.
Posted: at 5-11-2015 01:40 PM (8 years ago) | Newbie
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- luckingto50 at 5-11-2015 03:40 PM (8 years ago)
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Nobody is been questioned whenever someone died in the hospital. Their non-Chalant attitude towards patient is worrisome and the only way forward is to have a strong body that will be looking into this issues of negligence like if any person die in a particular hospital, the doctor on duty must be called upon to come and give comprehensive report of their effort before the man died and the drugs administered.
Posted: at 5-11-2015 03:40 PM (8 years ago) | Upcoming
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- Trueyarn at 5-11-2015 04:02 PM (8 years ago)
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The problem with nigerians is that which ever little office we are,we make sure,we abuse it a little.not considering other people feelings.
Posted: at 5-11-2015 04:02 PM (8 years ago) | Hero
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- sugarwealth at 5-11-2015 04:13 PM (8 years ago)
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You see why people prefer to travel abroad to give birth, it's not only because they want citizenship for their child, it's to avoid this kind of rubbish.
Posted: at 5-11-2015 04:13 PM (8 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- sugarwealth at 5-11-2015 04:19 PM (8 years ago)
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The other day we read of how a Nigerian doctor was held responsible for the death of a boy by the parents, this case is much worse but because it's Nigeria the investigation will not go well and they may sadly sweep this under the rug
Posted: at 5-11-2015 04:19 PM (8 years ago) | Gistmaniac
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- joearly at 5-11-2015 04:28 PM (8 years ago)
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this is so sad, but the man should take solace in the fact that we all shall die someday (including the nurses that refused to touch her) .
Posted: at 5-11-2015 04:28 PM (8 years ago) | Newbie
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- Novic at 5-11-2015 06:41 PM (8 years ago)
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Stupid people sha.. if na US or UK this happen all of them are going to jail.
Posted: at 5-11-2015 06:41 PM (8 years ago) | Hero
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- dickieponga at 5-11-2015 08:35 PM (8 years ago)
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Incompetent and unprofessional idiots full our medical hospitals and loss of life no be biggie to dem..
Such a shame...
Posted: at 5-11-2015 08:35 PM (8 years ago) | Hero
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- AmazingMarie at 5-11-2015 09:24 PM (8 years ago)
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this is what we see and hear daily. the services of public hospitals health workers and doctors is so pathetic. they place value over money than life. also, they attend to patient with such nonchalant attitude that is so disgusting. Mr. shonuga it is well with you.
Posted: at 5-11-2015 09:24 PM (8 years ago) | Hero
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