 |
| Mrs Joan Paul Momodu, elder sister of the deceased |
 |
| Miss Deborah Bassey, victim |
 |
| Miss Deborah Bassey, victim |
THANKGOD OFOELUE
The tragic death of a sickle cell disorder patient reportedly raped to
death in Benin City has thrown a spanner in the works of an already
troubled Edo State Government-owned Sickle Cell Rehabilitation Centre along Reservation Road, GRA, in the state capital.
Late Miss Deborah Bassey, 22-yearold, was said to have developed a
"psychological outburst", a condition that affects sufferers, before
jumping ship from the centre at about 11:30pm on Friday February 28
this year.
Deborah, who until her death lived in Obbeh community, Benin, in
Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State was raped, and her
throat slit by yet to be identified hoodlums at the neighbourhood of
GRA, an incident that caused outrage at the wee hours of Saturday.
According to Mrs Joan Paul Momodu, elder sister of the deceased,
Bassey had sold her Blackberry phone to meet up with her medical
requirements and undergo blood transfusion at the centre where she has
been receiving medical treatment since childhood.
Momodu, who spoke with The Union, maintained that the doctor on call
had given her reasons why he won't let Deborah go home and that
Deborah's PVC was 15 percent and that she needed two pints of blood
initially.
A pregnant young woman, Momodu clarified that her own told the doctor
had advised her to be on bed rest, and therefore could not make it to
the hospital, but had pledged that she will assist her with money.
She had handed over all the prescriptions and drugs ahead of the
arrival of her mother who was supposed to pay for the drugs.
She Deborah, 300 Level Student of Accounting and Education, Benson
Idahosa University, Benin had barely commenced her first semester
examinations when tragedy struck.
Mrs Momodu also stated that she assisted her younger sister with an
undisclosed sum of money barely 24 hours before she manoeuvred her way
to her friend's house at upper Adesuwa Road in the Government
Reservation Area (GRA).
Narrating Deborah's ordeal, she told The Union that, Deborah had
arrived the Sickle Cell Centre at about 9pm that Friday night and did
not get the medical attention she required. Being in psychological
trauma, after selling her phone to raise money to buy the needed pints of blood to improve her health. Deborah stormed out of the centre at about 11.30 that night; nobody knows how she was able to get to the Adesuwa area, in the GRA, where a friend of hers lives, the
neighbourhood where she was murdered.
Momodu alleged complicity when her late sister got to her friend's
residence and knocked severally at the gate which attracted the
hoodlums that gang-raped her.
They had pulled her skirts up, torn her panties, and dragged her to a
welder's workshop. There, she had been raped, and her throat slit. She
had died in the pool of her own blood.
Her words: "She told her us she was going to King's Square to sell her
Blackberry phone and raise money for treatment. The following day at
about 2pm, she was felling funny and went to Sickle Cell Centre
unaided".
Not satisfied with the way she was treated, Deborah left, requesting
to go to her church in Obbe community.
She had taken a bus and headed back to the centre at about 9:30pm and
started shouting. The staff, who could not placate her, warned her to
stop disturbing the peace of the centre before she left at about
11:30pm
Mrs Momodu expressed disappointment that neither the hospital nor the
police have been able to save the situation, adding that she had been
advised to close the case reported with police, following the demand
for the sum of N150, 000.00 to carryout autopsy by the police. She
planned burying her sister as soon as possible without recourse to
justice, which, to her, was expensive.
Edo State police command public Relations officer, DSP, Moses Eguavoen
who confirmed the report, said though no arrest has been made,
investigations have commenced in the Homicide Department of the
Command.
"I'm aware of the case, but I'm not aware if anybody has been
arrested'', he said.
On his part, the Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Health,
Comrade Joe Apilli in a telephone interview, stated that the
Commissioner for Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Aihanuwa Eregie was yet to receive
brief from appropriate authorities in charge of the centre.
Meanwhile, patients currently receiving treatment at the sickle cell
centre have alleged they are forced to endure very hostile treatments
from the authorities. They also have accused the State Commissioner
for Health, Dr (Mrs) Aihanuwa Eregie who shares the same complex with
the sickle cell centre, of using subtle threats to keep them from
revealing any information about their poor state of being.
A male sickle cell disorder patient, who craved for anonymity, said the
commissioner has been going through the same ritual to conceal the
circumstances of carelessness that led to Deborah's death like her
predecessors.
He said since Governing Board for the sickle cell centre was dissolved
over two years ago, the fate of in-patients have been hanging in the
balance, and only recently, four in-patients had died in the centre in
suspicious circumstances.
He said an attempt by some highly placed government officials in the
Ministry of Health to evict sickle cell disorder patients from the
complex is unacceptable.
"In a situation whereby only one doctor attends to all the patients,
what do you expect when there are crises? We do not have any consultant
at all".
"When we confronted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry about the
memo he sent to the Commissioner restraining the centre from accepting
patients with critical challenges, he denied the existence of such a
memo".
"The Administrative Secretary is becoming too powerful. She had
threatened to evict any sickle cell patient that speaks to the media
on this matter'', he said, revealing that the University of Benin
Teaching Hospital, (UBTH) Benin has being a great relief to them.
The tragic death of a sickle cell disorder patient reportedly raped to
death in Benin City has thrown a spanner in the works of an already
troubled Edo State Government-owned Sickle Cell Rehabilitation Centre along Reservation Road, GRA, in the state capital.
Late Miss Deborah Bassey, 22-yearold, was said to have developed a
"psychological outburst", a condition that affects sufferers, before
jumping ship from the centre at about 11:30pm on Friday February 28
this year.
Deborah, who until her death lived in Obbeh community, Benin, in
Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State was raped, and her
throat slit by yet to be identified hoodlums at the neighbourhood of
GRA, an incident that caused outrage at the wee hours of Saturday.
According to Mrs Joan Paul Momodu, elder sister of the deceased,
Bassey had sold her Blackberry phone to meet up with her medical
requirements and undergo blood transfusion at the centre where she has
been receiving medical treatment since childhood.
Momodu, who spoke with The Union, maintained that the doctor on call
had given her reasons why he won't let Deborah go home and that
Deborah's PVC was 15 percent and that she needed two pints of blood
initially.
A pregnant young woman, Momodu clarified that her own told the doctor
had advised her to be on bed rest, and therefore could not make it to
the hospital, but had pledged that she will assist her with money.
She had handed over all the prescriptions and drugs ahead of the
arrival of her mother who was supposed to pay for the drugs.
She Deborah, 300 Level Student of Accounting and Education, Benson
Idahosa University, Benin had barely commenced her first semester
examinations when tragedy struck.
Mrs Momodu also stated that she assisted her younger sister with an
undisclosed sum of money barely 24 hours before she manoeuvred her way
to her friend's house at upper Adesuwa Road in the Government
Reservation Area (GRA).
Narrating Deborah's ordeal, she told The Union that, Deborah had
arrived the Sickle Cell Centre at about 9pm that Friday night and did
not get the medical attention she required. Being in psychological
trauma, after selling her phone to raise money to buy the needed pints of blood to improve her health. Deborah stormed out of the centre at about 11.30 that night; nobody knows how she was able to get to the Adesuwa area, in the GRA, where a friend of hers lives, the
neighbourhood where she was murdered.
Momodu alleged complicity when her late sister got to her friend's
residence and knocked severally at the gate which attracted the
hoodlums that gang-raped her.
They had pulled her skirts up, torn her panties, and dragged her to a
welder's workshop. There, she had been raped, and her throat slit. She
had died in the pool of her own blood.
Her words: "She told her us she was going to King's Square to sell her
Blackberry phone and raise money for treatment. The following day at
about 2pm, she was felling funny and went to Sickle Cell Centre
unaided".
Not satisfied with the way she was treated, Deborah left, requesting
to go to her church in Obbe community.
She had taken a bus and headed back to the centre at about 9:30pm and
started shouting. The staff, who could not placate her, warned her to
stop disturbing the peace of the centre before she left at about
11:30pm
Mrs Momodu expressed disappointment that neither the hospital nor the
police have been able to save the situation, adding that she had been
advised to close the case reported with police, following the demand
for the sum of N150, 000.00 to carryout autopsy by the police. She
planned burying her sister as soon as possible without recourse to
justice, which, to her, was expensive.
Edo State police command public Relations officer, DSP, Moses Eguavoen
who confirmed the report, said though no arrest has been made,
investigations have commenced in the Homicide Department of the
Command.
"I'm aware of the case, but I'm not aware if anybody has been
arrested'', he said.
On his part, the Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Health,
Comrade Joe Apilli in a telephone interview, stated that the
Commissioner for Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Aihanuwa Eregie was yet to receive
brief from appropriate authorities in charge of the centre.
Meanwhile, patients currently receiving treatment at the sickle cell
centre have alleged they are forced to endure very hostile treatments
from the authorities. They also have accused the State Commissioner
for Health, Dr (Mrs) Aihanuwa Eregie who shares the same complex with
the sickle cell centre, of using subtle threats to keep them from
revealing any information about their poor state of being.
A male sickle cell disorder patient, who craved for anonymity, said the
commissioner has been going through the same ritual to conceal the
circumstances of carelessness that led to Deborah's death like her
predecessors.
He said since Governing Board for the sickle cell centre was dissolved
over two years ago, the fate of in-patients have been hanging in the
balance, and only recently, four in-patients had died in the centre in
suspicious circumstances.
He said an attempt by some highly placed government officials in the
Ministry of Health to evict sickle cell disorder patients from the
complex is unacceptable.
"In a situation whereby only one doctor attends to all the patients,
what do you expect when there are crises? We do not have any consultant
at all".
"When we confronted the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry about the
memo he sent to the Commissioner restraining the centre from accepting
patients with critical challenges, he denied the existence of such a
memo".
"The Administrative Secretary is becoming too powerful. She had
threatened to evict any sickle cell patient that speaks to the media
on this matter'', he said, revealing that the University of Benin
Teaching Hospital, (UBTH) Benin has being a great relief to them.
No comments:
Post a Comment