Hospital caused death of my wife negligently, bereaved husband cries out

Management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) and that of Bauchi State Specialist Hospital have been accused of negligently causing the death of Saliha Adamu by not giving her the required professional attention when she needed it.

Husband of the deceased woman, Adamu Yusuf Misau who is a technical staff at Bauchi Radio Corporation (BRC), alleged that doctors at the two health facilities exhibited gross act of negligence while handling the case of his pregnant wife who had complications during childbirth which turned out to be a stillbirth on July 22, 2020, at primary healthcare (PHC) facility from where she was referred.

Adamu Yusuf who briefed journalists at the NUJ Press Centre explained that his wife, who had her antenatal at a PHC in Bauchi metropolis was referred to ATBUTH where she was attended to in order to save her life.

He further said that his wife had undergone a surgical operation at the ATBUTH and was later told that she needed to be placed on a dialysis machine which was not functional at the teaching hospital. Therefore, she had to be referred to the State Specialist Hospital.

He said: “They told us that their dialysis machine was not functioning at the time, but referred us to the Bauchi State Specialist Hospital. This happened in the morning of 4th of August. But sadly, they did not release her to go for the dialysis at Specialist Hospital until 11 pm the same day. She was delayed for about 12 hours to be able to reach the facility that has a distance of about two kilometres.

A visibly shaken Adamu added that when they finally released her, one of the female health workers tore a sheet of paper without any letterhead of the ATBUTH, then wrote to the receiving hospital, saying: ” Sir, to whom it may concern, please, kindly help and suture the site that I forgot to suture. I have already dressed the site by the time I saw the suture and signed.”

He further narrated that a lady, one of the staff of dialysis unit of the hospital asked him to pay the sum of N14,000 cash to put his wife on patient’s dress and when he demanded evidence of payment, the lady declined but told him that payment of cash without receipt is a routine in the unit.

He added that on getting to the Specialist Hospital, the head of the dialysis unit was said to be on Sallah break but called some of her subordinates to come and attend to them.

Adamu said that “The staff who they said was in the custody of the key did not respond to calls put across to her number, sadly, she switched off the phone. We were not attended to till about 2:00 am before returning back to ATBUTH. While we there, we narrated our experience but nothing was done to help my wife. Painfully, my wife died about two hours after.”

After losing his baby and wife, Adamu sought to see the Acting CMD of ATBUTH but was not allowed. According to him, this prompted him to get the State Commissioners for Health as well as that of Women Affairs to intervene on the matter of his deceased wife.

Meanwhile, Bauchi State branch of International Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA) has threatened legal action against ATBUTH and Specialist Hospital if justice is not done for Saliha.

The association’s chairperson, Mrs Fatima Abubakar, who accompanied the bereaved Adamu to the NUJ Press Centre wondered why a woman would die an avoidable death during childbirth declaring that “Justice must be done in this case or else we institute legal action against them even though no amount of money can buy back a lost life.”

While reacting to the development, the Acting Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the ATBUTH, Dr Saidu Abubakar Kadas said that the management was not aware of the incident when contacted by journalists.

He said, “I am just hearing this today from you guys. I have not received any written complaint in my office regarding this matter. I expected the man to have done this. We don’t joke with cases like this because our primary objectives are to save lives.”

The CMD, however, promised to initiate investigations into the allegations of negligence on the part of the staff and do justice while urging the bereaved husband to come forward with a formal and detailed complaint which will help the management to do a thorough investigation.

He said: “We need to meet him because we don’t have any details of the deceased. Also, we will ensure that the indicted staff who was said to have collected the money be identified because we don’t deal with cash.”

At the State Specialist Hospital, the CMD was said not to be in the office when Tribune Online visited to get his reaction on the matter. Other management staff present declined to comment.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

STATE OF ECONOMY: How Nigeria Is Eating Its Future, Spent Over 90% Of Revenue On Debt Servicing
INDICATION that Nigeria’s economy is still in the throes of death has continued to emerge with the current low revenue it is generating from oil sale and increasing demands on its foreign debt obligation especially. The parlous state of the economy is heightened by the revelation that most of the revenue…Hospital caused death

FACT CHECK: Somalia President, Deputy DID NOT Fight In Viral VIDEO
CLAIM: Somalia President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo and his vice exchanged blows to the point of wrestling themselves to the ground.
VERDICT: MISLEADING
FULL STORY: Nigerian media space was abuzz on Saturday, August 15, 2020, with a viral video which claims to show President of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo publicly exchanged blows with his vice…Hospital caused death

NBS Says 21.76m Nigerians Unemployed In 2020
THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has put the total number of unemployed Nigerians at 21,764,617. The figure is contained in the bureau’s Labor Force Statistics website entitled “Unemployment and Underemployment Report (Q2 2020) released in Abuja. It referred to the report as an Abridged Labour Force Survey under COVID-19 for August 2020. According to NBS, the unemployment rate during the period under review…Hospital caused death

Our Fears As 2020 WASSCE Beckons: SS3 Students Speak On Inability To Finish Syllabus, Other Issues
After a long unexpected delay occasioned by the lockdown from the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) will begin in 19,129 accredited centres nationwide on August 17. Some candidates hoping to write the examination spoke with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI and ADEOLA OTEMADE on their fears and expectations…Hospital caused death