He once assured me not to worry that God would soon bless his efforts but he never waited to enjoy the blessings.
” These were the words of bereaved Mrs Joy Okereke-Nkemakolam as she shed uncontrollable tears while speaking with our correspondent.
Nkemakolam said it was difficult for her family to break the news of Joel’s death to their mother as it would lead to double tragedy in the family. Talking about their relationship, Nkemakolam said after her brother clocked 32 last month, he confided in her of his plans to marry soon. She let out anguish as she stated that the country killed her brother. Nkemakolam said, “This country killed my brother. How could you allow a hospital to operate and they don’t have oxygen. The General Hospital didn’t even do anything to help the situation.
“The hospital refused to admit him because they said their space was filled up and didn’t have bed to admit him. Then we took him to the Ikeja General Hospital and it was the same story. We continued to carry him about from one hospital to the other before we saw a private hospital willing to attend to him. But by the time they started to attend to him, it was late. He died in the process. Due to the stress of carrying him around, his blood pressure was like 220.
He said, “As at present, records show that we may be experiencing more unnecessary deaths because our hospitals are turning back non-COVID-19 related patients.” He stated, “Our mother died shortly before the lockdown. She should have been buried if not for situation. Her remains are still in the mortuary. But the Nigeria health system has truncated my brother’s life. We now have to bury a mother and a child at the same time. What a sad country we live in.”
He expressed that he watched his brother beg for oxygen around 3am as he continued to experience difficulty in breathing. He said when they didn’t have a choice, they returned to LUTH the third time in the night and it was getting to 4.30 am and the lady doctor on duty still refused to attend to them.
“It took another two to three hours before he was admitted in a single apartment and we were not allowed to be with him. We were outside.He added that the deceased studied civil engineering at the University of Lagos, lamenting that the country’s health system shortened his life. After the rejection, she quickly rushed him to LASUTH but he was also rejected there too. He was subsequently taken to several private facilities but was refused admission. Bethamary said her brother lost hope after the rejections and asked to be taken home where he died.
She said that after they left there, she took him to some private hospitals, which also rejected him and those at the last place she took him to, didn’t treat him well. According to her, the doctor did not come down to check her brother but he told the medical director that he attended to them. For instance, Ademulegun said when the doctor wasn’t showing any concern to his sick brother, they opted for a private hospital. He added that as they kept moving from one hospital to the other, they discovered that lack of oxygen was common to them all.
He said, “We exist because of patients. LUTH has three tripods; service delivery, research and training. There is no reason why we would not offer service delivery to the people. “These things are beyond the hospital, we can’t control what happens to people, so there is no way we can stop accidents from happening to people. Also in some cases, Primary Health Care Centres are not available or not open and people with malaria come to the hospital and have occupied the bed before others. We can’t possibly send them away from the beds. These are the issues that needed to be attended to.
Mustapha stated that the hospital didn’t reject suspected cases of COVID-19, noting that there was no way it would reject patients who didn’t even show symptoms of the virus. Mustapha stated that while taking measures to ensure that more patients were accommodated at LASUTH, there was an ongoing project at the hospital sponsored by a philanthropist.
“Our doctors have also been taught to attend to patients based on the triage. That is what they have been trained to do. But most times, the patients don’t understand what the doctors are doing. And that is what we tell them to carry patients along. Many patients are not properly informed so they peddle misinformation around.”President, Nigerian Medical Association, Dr.
Faduyile said until hospitals were well projected and a sustainable plan employed, people might not be able to get the best of medical practice in Lagos.
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