Pharm Obinna: Questions For National Hospital Abuja

By Comfort Obi

I have just read the press release issued by the Management of the National Hospital, Abuja, and my anger has risen to high heavens.

In the release, the hospital sought to extricate itself from the unfortunate death of Prince Obinna Emeka Ogbonna in the hands of its medical personnel.

My opinion, after going the release, signed by the Hospital’s Spokesperson, Dr, Taylor Haastrup, is that the Hospital has questions to answer over the death of the 27 year-old Pharmacist. The release raised more questions than it struggled to answer. It left issues raised by Obinna’s heartbroken father, His Royal Highness Eze Obinna Emeka Ogbonna, the Traditional Ruler of Ama-Inyi Community in Ihitte-Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State, unanswered, and instead, went on a rigmarole of what it wants the general public to believe.

I refuse to believe. And my reason is simple: what the hospital put out did not address the issues raised about the tragic incident. Until it tells us why Ogbonna Jnr. died, until it tells us the circumstances which surrounded his death, the National Hospital can continue to tell its story to the Marines.

The circumstances under which Obinna died at the National Hospital, Abuja, as narrated by his father, is one of those stories one reads, and curses oneself for being a Nigerian. Sadly, that has become our fate. Everyday, one reads stories that break the heart. Everyday, one reads stories that both, at once, congeals one’s blood, and condemns one’s blood pressure to a constant high. Everyday, one reads stories that make one lose faith in one’s Country. Everyday, one reads stories that make one slip into a state of depression. I experienced a combination of all after I read the lamentations of Obinna’s devastated father. His pains diminished me as a human being.

I don’t know whether you had the ill-luck of reading the story or not. But even if you did, please, excuse me to inflict it on you with a brief recap.

Obinna, 27, a registered Pharmacist, an author of books, one of which he wrote while he was a six-year old, lived in Imo State with his father, and worked in his father’s Pharmarcy, Ziga Pharmarcy Ltd.

What to do? Again, his father: “He was taken to a private hospital to obtain the full body scan, and when my son, Pharmacist Obinna Emeka, was brought back to National Hospital, it took two hours for documentation before he was taken in for medical attention. At this time, his veins had collapsed.”

His lamentation: “The medical team, after watching my son gradually stop breathing, came out and announced to his friends and people who brought him to the hospital that they were sorry my son, the writer, my Prince, my Pharmacist, who worked with me in our pharmacy till March 31, 2023, could not make it.”

Ogbonna Snr’s pain is difficult to imagine, especially, as he was the one who took his son to the Airport for the ill-fated Abuja trip. For him, it is like he took his son to the land of the dead and abandoned him there. “I am in pains. I took my son to Owerri Airport on March 31,2023, from where he flew to Abuja for a meeting, and I flew to Abuja on April 2, 2023, to take his corpse back home from the National Hospital mortuary. I have lost my son to incompetence and negligence.” He is correct. If what he narrated is anything to go by, then, yes, he lost his son to negligence and incompetence.

His one request: That the Federal Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, close down the National Hospital Abuja to avoid further tragedy as happened to him.

Expectedly, the management of the National Hospital has distanced its medical personnel from the young Pharmacist’s, perhaps, avoidable death.

In a statement that said nothing, Dr Sawyerr, the Hospital’s Spokesperson said the medical team was neither negligent nor incompetent.

His words: “To put the record straight, the patient was said to have been knocked down by a vehicle along Kubwa Express Road and was taken to Kubwa General Hospital after which he was referred to the National Hospital, Abuja. He was presented to the National Hospital Abuja Trauma Centre on 2/4/2023, seven (7) hours following the accident. Necessary investigations and procedures were carried out but unfortunately, we lost the patient.

“As a matter of fact, there was no incompetence or negligence in the treatment of the said patient. National Hospital Abuja ensures that medical services are rendered promptly.

“Emergencies/Trauma cases are given priorities. Our CT scan, MRI and UltraSound machines are always available for in-patients and emergencies. Furthermore, it is a policy in National Hospital Abuja to attend to emergencies for 48 hours without emphasising on the monetary aspect.

“The National Hospital Abuja has competent medical personnel fully certified by professional bodies and standard procedures were followed strictly.”

Good. But what has Dr. Sawyerr said? Nothing, if you ask me. He said the patient was brought in seven hours after the accident. So, was that what stopped National Hospital from giving him immediate attention? Was that what stopped it from stabilising him before asking for a full body scan and x-ray? Is that why it took two hours for documentation (only) before he was taken in to be attended to, by which time his veins had collapsed?

Dr Sawyerr wants us to believe that the National Hospital has functional Scan and X-ray machines. So, I believe. But here are the questions: Why were they not made available to Prince Obinna? Why were those who brought him to the hospital told the hospital had no functional ones? If they were functional, as claimed by Sawyerr, why would those who brought the patient take the risk of taking him out from the National Hospital to a Private Hospital for the procedures – before they took him back to the National Hospital? Or, does the National Hospital hoard those medical equipments? Is somebody doing some businesses with them? You know, like making it available to the highest bidder? Was that what happened? Otherwise, why would Dr Sawyerr tell us that: “It is the Hospital’s policy to treat patients for 48 hours before demanding any sort of payments.” Big deal? Who asked him how long it takes them before they ask for money? The bereaved father never mentioned anything about payments. So, where did that come from? Or was Sawyerr telling us something?

“Necessary investigations and procedures were carried out, but unfortunately, we lost the patient.”

Can Dr. Sawyerr please tell us what necessary investigations and procedures were carried out? Was it asking for full body scan and X-ray which the hospital was unable to provide? Or doing documentation for two hours? Or, attending to the patient when his veins had already collapsed? What did they do for him? What services did they provide for him? What efforts did they make to save his life?

But, this is our fate in Nigeria. The young Pharmacist’s tragic death became public only because his father is enlightened enough to cry out. Otherwise nothing could have been heard. Hundreds of Nigerians die just like that because of the insensitive and carefree attitude of some medical personnel, especially, in Government Hospitals. It is even worse in University Teaching Hospitals. If one, especially, in an emergency, cannot afford a good Private Hospital, one is gone. Nobody cares.

In the instant case, one expected the National Hospital Management to investigate and find out who told those who brought the deceased to the Hospital that the Scan and X-ray machines were not functional. One expected them to find out why treatment was not started on the patient immediately he was brought back from the Private Hospital where he was taken to for the full body scan and x-rays. Those lost hours were crucial to his survival. They denied him that. Where has compassion gone to? Where have human feelings gone to?

Just in case the Management of the National Hospital, Abuja, does not know, the Hospital’s reputation is very ugly. There are too many untidy stories about the attitude of some of its personnel. It will not be out of place to institute a probe into the Hospital’s treatment of patients, especially, of deaths such as that of Pharmacist (Prince) Obinna Emeka Ogbonna. It shatters the heart.