We read the
word of God on a daily basis and constantly pray to Him for protection. God
will never come down from heaven but He has assigned some people to meet, to
some extent, the needs of others. When it comes to the issue of human health,
we may say that after God, doctors and nurses are in the next best position to
protect it. But at the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH),
Choba, in Rivers State, this may be too much to expect of the medical
personnel. Complaints are rife about the placid disposition of the medical
staff to their patients. Little wonder, then, that the average Nigerian would
prefer to travel overseas for medical check-up than subject themselves to the
quack-like antics of supposedly trained doctors.
Recently a
reliable source who wants to remain anonymous expressed to BETH NEWS her angst at
how some medical doctors are virtually using fellow human beings as guinea pigs
for practicals at UPTH. Another source who lives very close to the hospital
also spoke to BETH NEWS about the sad
experience of a young, pretty and dark-complexioned married woman who lost her
womb to a doctor’s amazing sloppiness inside the labour room during a child
delivery.
On that
fateful day the woman noticed that she was due for delivery and took the next
logical step by going to the hospital. According to the source, when she got to
the UPTH she was attended to and rushed into the labour room. After all manner
of practicals performed on her by some doctors in a bid to get her push out the
baby proved abortive, another set of doctors came into the labour room to try
their best. It took them several hours before she could deliver the baby. As if
that was not enough, surprisingly the pad used to wipe and clean the blood was
left inside the woman’s womb.
After some
weeks, she started feeling stomach pains
which she thought might be a result of her child delivery. The pains, however,
persisted and after some months, she took her baby to the same teaching
hospital for injection to prevent the child from sickness. The moment she
entered the hospital the atmosphere changed, and the other patients started
covering their noses and mouths in order not to contract some infection from her.
Yet the woman couldn’t believe the odour was coming from her body. When it was
her turn to be attended to, the doctor on duty quickly called her into a
private room and asked her which hospital she delivered her baby. The doctor
was shocked when the woman told him that it was at the very UPTH. She was given
a date to come back for tests and when she did as the doctor instructed, she
was dumbfounded when it was discovered that the pad used to clean her blood
during the child delivery was mistakenly left inside her womb and was the cause
of the woman’s repulsive body odour.
An operation
to evacuate the womb of the pad was later carried out successfully but the
damage had been done already. An investigation was carried out and the careless
doctor who attended to the woman’s child delivery was called to face the panel.
After a series of interrogation he was found guilty and later sacked.
As at the
time of filing this report every effort by BETH
NEWS to reach the Chief Medical Director of UPTH had proved abortive.
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