Deaths of people seeking emergency care at public hospitals worry Nigerians

Emeka Ibemere

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and his family including food, clothing and medical care”.

Public hospitals in Nigeria are refusing to care for patients seeking emergency care, despite the fact that public hospitals are funded by taxpayer’s money and are held to a different standard than privately owned, which are known for-profit margins.

Public hospitals which are the best option for those without health insurance or the means to pay for care, seems to have thrown cautions to the winds in their quest to make money first before attending to a dying patient.

In Nigeria, people seeking emergency care are neglected and allow to die, because they were unable to make initial deposit.

Both public and private hospitals are prohibited by law from denying a patient care in an emergency situation.

The legal frame forbids the denial of care to indigent or uninsured patients based on a lack of ability to pay. It also prohibits unnecessary transfers while care is being administered and prohibits the suspension of care once it is initiated. Also, there are provisions that prevent dumping patients who cannot pay on other hospitals. The treatment of indigent and uninsured patients is a huge financial drain upon the health system, especially in areas where no public hospitals are available.

It is clear that Care providers, are mandated to give emergency treatment to patients on emergency situations without delayed while ability to pay is being checked. In other countries, the law establishes a “treat first, ask questions later” policy.

According to reports, this policy serves a double purpose by protecting both private hospitals and patients. Refusal or delay of emergency care based on means to pay is illegal.

Public hospitals may not deny patient care based on ability to pay or lack thereof. Private hospitals may, in non-emergency situations, deny or discontinue care.

Avoidable deaths based on these grounds are prevalent in Nigerian hospitals today despite several legislations.

Pregnant women, children, the aged and patients seeking emergency care at public hospitals have continued to die with ease. In most cases the patience die while waiting for doctors after spending hours or on the flimsy of excuses that there are no space in the hospitals.

Thousands of Nigerians seeking emergency have been denied access to medical treatment. Most victims are the accident victims, women in labor as well as people with gunshot wounds.

The handfuls of consultants attending to patients on emergency do not see the need to attend to such people unless necessary documentations are carried out. In most cases, the patience died like in the case of a journalist, who died while negotiation for payment delayed treatment.

Investigation has shown that the system in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba,   are not friendly for emergency health seekers. The lackadaisical attitude of the auxiliary staffs at LUTH, protocols and doctors is an eyesore.

Communication in the hospital is said to be poor and limited; there doctors cannot just call the laboratory section and ask for results, patience either go down and get the results or use their personal cell phones. The ugly system is time consuming and could make a difference between life and death for the patients seeking emergency.

More than a year now, LUTH management had claimed that they are going through a passing phase, which requires overhauling, but the system continued to remain the same. Emphasizing the importance of LUTH, a health consultant in Okota, Isolo local Government Area of Lagos State, Donald Marquis said LUTH is gradually going down and is more of deaths zone than hospital.

  “LUTH as a referral centre in healthcare delivery in the country is undermining their importance and doesn’t know that it caters not only for Nigerian patients but also neighboring countries”, Mr. Donald Marquis said.

Health stakeholders are worried that patients seeking emergency health care are dying in droves on daily basis with the hospital doing nothing to it.

“If LUTH is a referral, why rejecting health emergency seekers”? Mrs Fumi Akirisonye queried. “Where do they want people referred to them to go”?

Last week, Akirisonye’s question was begging for an answer when for close to nine hours running, a family of journalist in Lagos was thrown into chaos, running from one hospital to another,  late in the night, trying to get the hospital that would attend to their bread winner. But that was never to be realized, as the man died.

Not that the public hospitals or the National Association of Resident Doctors were on strike. No! But just unsympathetic, negligence and lack of necessary facilities at the hospital that made it difficult for the hospital workers to attend to the patient before he gave up the ghost.

Mr. Victor Dada Eriye, 50 years and a celebrity journalist, publisher, Bravo Weekly magazine, died in Lagos State, Nigeria on Wednesday 18, February 2015.

Eriye reportedly died of cardiac arrest, following complications he suffered from severe burns from a domestic accident at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

According to family friend, Eriye was ill with a first degree burn after his generator exploded while he was refueling it in his Lagos apartment.

It was gathered that Eriye was fuelling his generator at about 11.30p.m, on Saturday 14, February when the generating set exploded.

The bang of the explosion caused him a severe first degree burn and he was quickly rushed to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, and Ikeja Lagos, were he was rejected by the doctors there. The doctors advised that he should be taken to National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos.

Newswatch Times gathered that at Igbobi, the hospital allegedly gave flimsy excuse that they just fumigated the hospital and so they cannot admit him.

Again, the family moved him to Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi Araba, at about 2:00am on Sunday, the next day. While at LUTH, the hospital staff on duty said they had no bed so they couldn’t treat him. The deceased was said to be writhing in pains and was shouting for help but the hospital staff maintained their ground.

As the family was wailing and crying for help from the hospital staffs, the late Eriye was left for hours unattended to at LUTH. However, after some hours of pleading and crying by those who rushed him to the hospital, the hospital was alleged to have demanded deposit to be paid at that hour of the night before admission.

It was gathered that because there wasn’t enough money with his family at that wee hours of Sunday, the family begged and promised the hospital that they would bring the money when banks open by Monday morning. Before arrangement could have been agreed, the late journalist had developed into comatose and was allegedly placed on life support machine at the intensive care unit at LUTH, where he finally died of cardiac arrest.

Eriye is a household name in celebrity journalism and has put up to 20 years in the industry. Eriye worked in several newsrooms as editor, reporter, correspondent and other ranks. He worked with the defunct FAME Weekly, TEMPO, City People and News of The People, his last pot of call was at the Bravo Weekly, as the publisher.

The famous celebrity journalist’s avoidable death came amidst unnecessary work ethics, misguided professionalism, carelessness of those who are responsible to care and lack of basic tools to work. Also it exposes Nigeria’s poor electricity and healthcare systems and much emphasis on money over human life.

Ngozi Chukwuka blamed the hospitals’ fault in attending to him on time and regretted the type of human beings who run the hospitals these days.  According to him, most of Nigerian hospitals are glorified death traps.

“Apart from LUTH, LASUTH and Igbobi, Nigerian hospitals are fond of rejecting patients and running away from their duties on flimsy excuses and its very unprofessional of them to reject patience”, she worried.   

Another commentator who wishes not to use his name said: “Let us face the issue, why should our health institutions treated this man the way they all did? It is this man today; who knows who will go through similar situations in the hands of our institutions tomorrow? This is a food for thought us all”.

February 28, 2015 would make it two years Akinbola David Akingbehin lost his wife Margaret Moronke, at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH. Moronke was pregnant with the expectation that she would give birth to their third child. They choose LUTH for the delivery because they thought the hospital was the best around.

About 33 hours after Moronke checked into LUTH, she and her baby were dead. Reason? The hospital staff allegedly went negligent.

It was gathered that on Thursday, February 28 when Moronke was leaving home at 6 a.m., for her ante-natal clinic at LUTH, she was hale and hearty, according to family, she, in fact, drove herself.

 About two hours later, she called home to tell the husband her doctor told her that she was due for Caesarean Section, CS, and that she had to be admitted in the hospital right away for the CS.  Reports claimed that doctors at LUTH had told her earlier that because of her old age for child bearing coupled with the fact that she had an operation for fibroid removal earlier; it would be risky to allow her to go into labour ahead of the delivery of the baby. Her expected delivery date (EDD) was put at March 3.

Hence delivery ahead of labour was the reason Moronke was booked for CS when she visited LUTH on February 28 for ante-natal. But when the wife put a call through to him that the doctor had proposed that she be admitted for the CS that Thursday and that her position was that the operation should be shifted to the following Monday to allow her made adequate preparations, the husband’s statement was that she should follow the doctor’s instruction.

By 7.30 a.m. the following day, Friday, March 1, when Akinbola called the wife, she told him that she had been moved to the labour room and that a consultant surgeon, later identified as Prof Makew, had come to question the doctor in charge of her case why the CS had not been carried out.

The additional information Moronke gave the husband was that a machine that the consultant used to test her pregnancy indicated that the baby in the womb was already tired and needed to be brought out immediately.

It was reported that the wife was said to have continually complained of excruciating pains in the stomach. But the LUTH personnel told the husband that they needed blood in case the wife would require it in the course of the CS.

Akinbola donated some blood and called in his brother who also donated to make up the difference. Meanwhile, the wife was said to have been left in pains in the labour room without the personnel attending to her. At some point, according to report, the doctor who should have carried out the CS on Moronke was said to have gone to eat. And by the time he returned, he was too tired to attend to the pregnant woman.

The husband said it was not until 4p.m. that he was called into a doctor’s office adjoining the labour room where he had earlier been sent out because of his persistent calls that the LUTH personnel should attend to his dying wife to be informed that his wife and the baby she was carrying had died.

“It was like my whole world collapsed. We live in Jakande Estate, Isolo where we have a General Hospital close to us. There are also private hospitals that we could have used.  But we considered LUTH as the best hospital to deliver her of the pregnancy since it is a tertiary medical institution”, he said.

“That turned out to be our greatest mistake. The LUTH staffs were negligent. They killed my wife and our baby. What they told us was that she was to be delivered by CS. What stopped them from carrying out the CS that Thursday knowing the danger my wife was exposed to. They waited till Friday, in fact about 33 hours after she arrive hospital without attending to her, and I watched helplessly the agony of Moronke until she passed on”.