Pastor Accuses Epe General Hospital Of Culpability In Wife’s Death

How Epe General hospital Staff killed my wife over N29,000

A Lagos based clergyman, Pastor Taiwo Ayobami, has narrated his ordeal in the hands of some staff of the Epe General Hospital in Lagos whom he claimed their recklessness, irresponsibility and wickedness  led to the death of his wife, Mrs Oluremi Ekundayo Esan.

The clergyman who appealed to the Lagos state government to investigate the matter and unleash the full wrath of the law on the staff involved in the incident for not upholding their hypocratic oath to save lives at all times, said he lost his wife because of N29, 000

He also called on the Nigerian Medical Association, civil society organizations, media, and good spirited and benevolent individuals to help him get justice for his late wife, saying it will serve as deterrent to others, noting that with his family can never remain the same because of the loss which he said has left the deepest scar in their lives.

Ayobami, a father of four said they were referred from the Epe Primary Health Centre to the General Hospital for immediate Caesarean section to save his wife and baby.

According to him, it was discovered that the eight months pregnancy showed placenta previa during scan, a situation that made the doctors at the Epe Primary Health Centre refer them to the general hospital where they can better manage the situation.

He said after buying the blood as requested, the nurse on duty demanded that he must buy a delivery kit in her custody, which according to her was bought but not used by another patient.

Ayobami said “After the nurse told me to pay N29,000 for the delivery kit, another health official called me and told me to ask the doctor if he didn’t mind because there was no gloves in it according to the nurse. But all attempts to get the permission failed, as Dr Ayodeji refused to say yes or no. He and the nurse on duty just kept sending me to themselves and made me look terribly stupid”.

“I even went to the pharmacy to buy it but it seemed the personnel there had been told not to sell to me either. The pharmacist just kept telling me to go back to ward 3 and settle with them. Much as I tried to, Dr Ayodeji kept turning me down. And I asked them, if I buy this kit and you refuse to use it, what will I do with it and the nurse said ‘that will be your own business’. Believe me when I say they made me more confused even as they assured me that my wife was doing okay”.

Further, he said “We had leisurely gone to the health centre to do the scan on Easter Monday but were rushed to the general hospital Epe in an ambulance the same day, so you can understand how confused these people left us. It seemed we were their play tools”.

Ayobami said “When we got to the general hospital, the Doctor that received us was Dr Ayodeji. When he looked into our file, he shouted ‘This is a time bomb, we must perform CS immediately’. According to him, the requirements were four pints of blood and theatre requirements, he said until I make available the requirements before they can do anything I said am a pastor I don’t have money but by God’s grace, I will make necessary provisions, he said I should call who ever that will give me money if not they will not do anything”.

The clergyman alleged that from Dr Ayodeji decided the operation would be deferred to the next day or two days time, after he had said the situation was a time bomb.

He said ” When it became obvious I didn’t have his permission to buy the delivery kit from the nurse, I told him to to give me the prescription but he refused, he said all he need is I should provide all they need and they will do the CS. I begged them to allow me buy a complete set and the nurse got angry. Again I met the Doctor to give me the prescription he refused telling me they have to book us for Tuesday or Thursday even when I begged him that we were warned that she must not be allowed to have contraction”.

I was asked to go home by 10:30pm and was still on phone with my wife as the officials assured us that there was no need to worry. But by 2:45am, my wife called me saying she was experiencing stomach pains. And within 15 minutes, she started bleeding profusely. When she told the nurses on duty, she said they only turned the fan to face her and went away”.

In between sobs Ayobami said “When I got to the hospital by 6am, my wife was in a pool of blood, the beddings terribly soiled, with several used sanitary pads by the bed, crying because she was undergoing excruciating pains. I immediately went to the doctor and nurses for help but the same one forcing the delivery kit on us shouted at me and insulted me to leave their presence. Nothing I said could assuage her, not even the cries of my wife mattered to them”.

He disclosed that following the situation which appeared as being in between the deep blue sea and a shark, he marched to the office of the Chief Medical Director to lay complaints.

Ayobami continued his story, “I must have been crying when some onlookers pointed the office of the Chief Medical Director’s office to me. Luckily I found his number pasted somewhere and I called while heading to his office. On my way back, Dr Ayodeji now told me that the case had become an emergency case and that the delivery kit that caused the brouhaha will be given to us free as Governor Babajide Sanwolu had earlier promised as part of palliatives over the corona virus pandemic. Can you imagine that the issue was just because they wanted money as against providing the delivery kit free”?

“Now Dr Ayodeji told me it had become an emergency case, even when we were brought in for emergency caesarian section from the onset. My wife had bled from 3am to 12 noon when they wheeled her into the theatre for the process, she had lost so much blood, and was now battling for her life. It was then they gave me drug prescriptions that could not be procured anywhere. I was criss crossing every hospital and pharmacy in Epe but could not get a particular drug”.

Further, Ayobami said suddenly Dr Ayodeji started asking if his wife had any health concerns apart from pregnancy, and I replied in the negative. ” He tried so hard to make me want to accept that my wife had issues but the truth is except for the uncontrollable bleeding, my wife had no issues. It was then it dawned on me that he was looking for a soft landing to wriggle out of the situation. Despite the extra blood I bought for the surgery, they had lost her because she had bled for so long without medical attention”.

The cleric lamented that if only Dr Ayodeji had said he should pay for the delivery kit presented by the nurse, he would have paid. Yet when reported to higher officials, the same people brought out the kit for free, saying the medical personnel on that shift were not just negligent but highly callous.

Ayobami said “How do I explain to my children that their mother died because of N29,000 that a clique wanted from us. Why didn’t Dr Ayodeji simply nod that I should pay the N29,000 and I would have, even if I had to beg everyone in the hospital to help me make up the money assuming I didn’t have it complete”, he queried.

Further, he alleged that the hospital is noted for avoidable maternal deaths saying “It was after my wife died that I realised that the hospital is notorious for deaths of pregnant women, it was then other people told me of how the negligence of the personnel had caused numerous avoidable deaths”.

“I beg you people to help me get justice, to make our society safer. The nurse in the whole scenario told me that if I have the ears of Governor Sanwoolu, she had that of President Muhamadu Buhari and there is nothing I can do to her. Will people watch me walk away empty with a baby battling to stay alive while the people who caused her mother’s death walk away free, ready to inflict the same harm on their next victim”, he appealed.

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