Wednesday 17 May 2017

#JusticeForChisom No to Maternal Mortality




It is heart breaking that in this day and age, with all the technological advancement, women still lose their lives in Nigeria during childbirth, over carelessness, negligence and other issues that could be avoided. Sometime in April,
I saw the picture of a beautiful young woman on my friend's Blackberry Messenger, with the caption RIP, I quickly sent her a message to condole with her on the death of her friend. I became more furious than saddened when I learnt the cause of her death, and when my younger brother informed me she was his classmate in secondary school. What a young life cut so short!

I have always said we should name and shame these careless doctors and hospitals, report them to appropriate authorities, cry out publicly and demand that people take responsibilities for their actions. According to late Chisom Anekwe's husband, she was admitted at Magodo Specialist Hospital in Lagos, four days before she went into labour, and while in labour, she was left unattended to, in pains, until her husband created a scene. Thereafter, they checked her and discovered the baby, a boy, had died in her womb. At this point the husband paid for a Caesarian Section and signed the consent form, yet they went ahead and induced her to deliver a dead baby vaginally, after which she developed further complications and died. Isn't that just awful?! 

This is akin to a lot of frustrating and heart-wrenching stories we hear of very often in our hospitals, and the most annoying part is that these hospitals and doctors move on without any repercussions. Meanwhile, as in this case, someone's wife, mother, sister, friend, is dead. Chisom died leaving behind two adorable little girls and devastated husband and other family members. It is time to cry out for justice; enough is enough!! A lot of doctors and nurses in Nigeria play with their patients' lives on a daily basis, as if they have a spare life somewhere. The medical field is not where you dabble into, just to be addresses as a 'doctor'. I know that patients die, but let their death not be as a result of negligence or carelessness. 

Magodo Specialist Hospital needs to explain what happened, the doctor has to take responsibility for his actions/inactions. Some hospitals would actually know that a case is beyond what they are equipped to handle, yet they would not refer such case to a better equipped hospital in time to save the lives of the patients. Our health practitioners need to understand that we are not animals they can toy with, even animals are better cared for in more developed climes.

I join the family of Chisom Anekwe (nee Okereke) to demand for justice. Enough is enough!! It could be my loved one tomorrow, or yours. Asking for better treatment from our hospitals is not demanding for too much.

#justiceforchisom


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