FLASHBACK: How doctors’ negligence, malfunctioning equipment at Asokoro District Hospital led to the death of anti- human-trafficking advocate

WITH a big smile on his face and his baby cradled in his arms, a proud father of a newly-born infant and his wife made their way toward the taxi park at the Asokoro District Hospital in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The couple seemed too overwhelmed with joy to notice a group of protesters, dressed in black t-shirts on the other side of the hospital premises until they walked into them.

Tears were coursing down the eyes of some of the protesters as they sang in unison. Their sorrowful chorus made the couple stop in their tracks and inquired from the taxi drivers nearby. But the banner they were carrying said it all: #JusticeforKaffy. #Fixourhealthcaresystem. On the banner was the face of a young lady in her twenties.

On the last Valentine’s Day, Abdulazeez Kafayat, a 25 years old anti-human trafficking advocate had sought medical help in one of the country’s prestigious government hospitals – Asokoro District Hospital .

The hospital, sited in a highbrow area of the FCT, is often referred to as a medical centre for the middle class who can afford premium medical bills.

When she walked into the emergency ward on that fateful day due to a fever that had started a day earlier, Kafayat never knew she would be leaving the hospital in a body bag.

“She was a sickle cell patient. She had gone to the emergency unit herself that morning because she was running high temperature. She had called me to meet up with her there. It was when I arrived that she told me it had taken hours for the hospital to place her on admission,” Jemilah Abdulazeez narrated the death of her sister to The ICIR.

Jemilah said the doctors had earlier started to treat her sister for pneumonia, but after a scan was run, the family was told it was an unidentified heart infection. Unfortunately, the X-ray film could not be interpreted as it was not submitted with a report.

“They said they didn’t know what the scan was saying, that the personnel at the X-ray department did not write a report and that they would need a specialist to interpret the scan before they could do anything,” Jemilah said.

With no specialist present to interpret the scan, the doctors had no clue on what the diagnosis was and could not treat her.

Kafayat spent the day in the emergency ward with no treatment, but was drawing energy from the presence of her loved ones.

Abdul, Kafayat’s brother who is yet to face the reality of the passing of her sister in an embittered voice interjected at this point, he told The ICIR that, “About 9.Oclock pm after I had fed her, I went home for the first time that day from the hospital. But after a few hours, I got a call from my mother.

“She said that my sister was acting funny. This was around 11: am to 12 am on Saturday morning. I rushed back to the hospital. Only to see my sister struggling to breathe. At some point, they told us to buy blood. But the blood was not transfused immediately due to her pulse level.

“One of the heart-breaking moments for me was that even after the transfusion was done, there was still no doctor to attend to her,” he said.

READ MORE:https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-negligence-the-inefficiency-of-doctors-and-malfunctioning-equipment-at-asokoro-district-hospital-led-to-the-death-of-human-trafficking-advocate/

i know how insensitive doctors can be

Until Nigerians rise up to demand that the right things be done in our health sector, Nigerian doctors will continue to misbehave

Sorry, but things will only get worse until the right is done

This happens everyday in Nigeria, but it's nobody's concern, because right now, your president is in the UK, receiving medical treatment, he knows the medical care in Nigeria is subzero

That is how they behave in Asokoro,they don't care.Most of their doctors are heartless.Just imagin going for check up as early as 6:30am,doctors walks in by 9am and leave by 10am without attending to patients, leaving large number of patients unattended to.God help us