As public enquiry continues on Tuesday, on the circumstances surrounding the death of December 2, 2019 robbery attack victim, Miss Moradeun Balogun, in Gbagada area of Lagos, one of those who assisted the deceased to the nearest hospital, Mr Toriola Gbemisola, stated that the deceased was still breathing when they got to RJolab Hospital where she was first taken to and even offered her credit card to the management of the hospital to stay alive.
Gbemisola disclosed this on Monday at the public inquiry on the possible violation(s) of consumer/patient rights under the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), the National Health Act: Any prevailing police or other law enforcement protocols, regulations, directives or guidelines, and sundry enactments/guidelines, organised by Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, in Lagos
The barber, who claimed the incident occurred around 7 pm, on his way from work on a fateful day, stated that it was the deceased’s cry for help that attracted him and other passengers in the bus he was coming in.
According to him, the deceased, who had been attacked around Charly Boy Area in Gbagada, was crying for help and begging those around to take her to the nearest hospital for treatment.
He said “the public bus we were coming in broke down somewhere around Chicken Republic, Gbagada, and not too long after we had disembarked from the vehicle, we heard Moradeun, coming from Charly Boy Bus Stop, crying for help.
“Initially we were scared. But a vehicle owner came and offered to convey her to the nearest hospital, which happened to be RJolab, in Gbagada. Meanwhile, Moradeun was busy saying, ‘please don’t let me die’.
“When we got to RJolab, the security men we met at the gate insisted we put her on the floor, despite being told it was an emergency case. We were restricted to the car park. One of them later went to call the doctor.
“When the doctor came and was about examining her, there was a power outage, and the doctor had to use his handset’s torchlight to check the wound. He said the cut wasn’t that deep, and referred us to Gbagada General Hospital, without administering any medication, even when Moradeun offered her ATM card, in case they needed some form of payment to commence treatment.
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“When we got to Gbagada Hospital, I went inside to call the doctor. She told the doctor her name, and I even assisted in putting her on the stretcher provided. She later passed on around 7:53 pm at Gbagada General Hospital,” Gbemisola stated.
While being led in evidence before the panel led the Chief Executive Officer of FCCPC, Mr Babatunde Irukera, one of the security men at RJolab that attended to the deceased, Mr Agbor Michael, explained that it was the policy of the hospital to allow those at the security post to first examine a case and determine its seriousness before calling the doctor.
When asked whether he had such professional competence to determine such cases, Agbor, who claimed to have been with the hospital for close to 9 years, answered in the affirmative.
“We have been trained by the hospital on how to handle such cases,” he answered.
Agbor also claimed he actually went for a stretcher after he had called the doctor, only to be told the case had been transferred to another hospital.
Dr Oyegbemi Adetoyese, one of the physicians who attended to the deceased on the floor of the hospital car park, explained that he had to “hurriedly” do that because he knew the deceased was “racing against time.”
When asked why he did not deem it fit to write a referral for those taking the deceased to Gbagada General, to enable the medics there have the history of the case, the doctor simply blamed that on “time constraints,” and the need to get the deceased to the hospital on time.
Explaining the rationale behind the inquiry, the panel’s chairman, Mr Babtunde Irukera had stated that it was meant to be a regulatory inquiry, a fact-finding mission, but not a judicial process.
He expressed the belief that some of the findings at the two-day inquiry would go a long way in preventing a re-occurrence and bring the much-needed reforms to the nation’s health sector.