Alleged Negligence: Hospitals Blamed For Deaths of Lawyer, Social Media Influencer

By Adesina Soyooye

“A Nurse at the University of Porthacourt Teaching Hospital told us there was no oxygen”

For the second time within one week, hospitals in Abuja  and Porthacourt have been blamed for deaths described as avoidable. The hospitals are being accused of utter negligence which resulted into the deaths of two young men.

The first was in Abuja, a couple of days ago, where health workers allegedly, failed to attend to an Abuja based Lawyer, Stephen Enyinnaya Eke, who was shot by gunmen.

According to his very angry colleagues, all the hospitals he was rushed to, rejected him because he was a victim of gunshot wounds. They are threatening criminal action in the Law Court against the hospitals to avoid a repeat of such an incident.

On, at least, two occasions, the Police High Command had told hospitals to first treat and save the life of a gun shot victim, as is done in civilised climes, before asking for Police report.

The next alleged avoidable death happened in Porthacourt. The victim was  Michael Odeyemi, Folorunsho, popularly as Yemitheplug, a Social Media Influencer. He died of an asthma attack in the late hours of Tuesday, November 29.

Family and friends are holding the University of Porthacourt Teaching Hospital, responsible for his death.

According to them, the staff they met on ground were nonchalant. They were asking for a means of his identification before treating him. Worse, as he battled to breath, a Nurse told them the hospital, a University Teaching Hospital, no less, had no oxygen to give him.

The medical personnel, allegedly, also, refused to admit him and perform a CPR on him before his death. They claimed he was brought in dead.

The youths in the community are angry. To show it, they embarked on a protest at the gate of UPTH asking for answers to their questions. They are, also, demanding a probe.

In the case of Barrister Eke, the the Nigerian Bar Association has taken it up through its Section on Public Interest and Development Law, SPIDEL.

In a statement issued by the Chairman of NBA-SPIDEL, Dr. Monday Onyekachi Ubani Ekeh, a criminal suit will be filed against the hospitals involved.

The full text of the statement reads as follows:

NBA-SPIDEL PROMISES TO USE EKE’S DEATH TO SET AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHER HOSPITALS IN NIGERIA

“The attention of NBA-SPIDEL has been drawn to the story of a colleague, Mr Stephen Enyinnaya Eke, of Nyanya-Karu NBA Branch who was assassinated recently in Abuja in the presence of some of his family members.

“He was said to have been rushed to several hospitals in Abuja while still breathing but was rejected by the medical officers on duty on account of the fact that he was carrying bullet wounds.

“We are aware that Nigeria has an Act (Compulsory Treatment And Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017) that outlaws such evil practice of rejecting patients who are shot by any person including criminals in Nigeria.

“We hereby condemn the killing by the criminals and demand quick intervention by the security agencies to track and bring the killers to justice. We also strongly call out the various hospitals that refused, rejected and neglected to treat the victim when he was still alive, citing a gunshot wound as a reason.

“This rejection not to treat is not only criminal and callous but a clear breach of the ethics of the medical profession that mandates the medical personnel to save lives first irrespective of the condition of the patient with gunshot wounds.

We as an NBA  Section regard this as a monumental professional failure on the part of the hospitals and their doctors, and we promise to use this case as a test case to teach the hospitals and their personnel a good lesson that we have laws governing victims that sustain bullet wounds in Nigeria. The law prescribes that they should be admitted and treated first with a subsequent report made available to the security agencies.

“Having failed to uphold the law and acting contrarily, which led to the untimely death of Late Mr Stephen Eke, we will faithfully hold those hospitals accountable to the law.

“We are hereby requesting Nyanya-Karu Branch of the NBA where Mr Late EKe belonged to supply NBA-SPIDEL with the names and addresses of the various hospitals that refused to treat Late Eke when he was rushed to them for treatment.

“We promise to immediately commence both criminal and civil proceedings against them on behalf of the Nigerian Bar Association.

“We are prepared as a body to stop the wanton wastage of lives in Nigeria especially lives that can be saved by those in a position to do so.

This latest death of Late Eke is one too many. We are also aware that a colleague, one Mr Nathan Akatakpo in Port Harcourt was also assassinated within the week after the killers may have snuffed life out of his client a day before his death.

“It is sad and disheartening that Port Harcourt in Rivers State is now becoming notorious for criminalities perpetrated against Legal Practitioners.

“In the last 3 years or so, many lawyers have either been kidnapped or killed senselessly within that environment.

“We condemn the killings and urge the State and Federal Government to ensure that the killers of our colleagues be brought to book expeditiously.

“Finally, we urge drastic action from all major stakeholders to halt these wanton killings of lawyers who are just performing their professional duties and do not deserve to be killed as is the case presently. Enough is enough!”