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
Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idiaraba, in Lagos 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 was
affected complained to Beth News about how her aged mother almost died into the
hands of a quack doctor who injected her with an intravenous drip that expired
in 2012. When Beth News visited the hospital, we gathered that a woman of about
60 years old or above was rushed to the hospital for medical treatment, but the
family discovered that she became unconscious after treatment. After series of
expenses on medical tests, she was later admitted into emergency observation
ward. Two days after her admission a quack doctor was said to have injected
into her some expired medication, its effect that lasted for 24 hours.
According to an eye witness who
spoke to Beth News, the old woman had started screaming, complaining that her
mouth was bitter and her eyes started turning. When other patients who were
admitted in the same emergency ward could no longer bear the woman’s agony,
they shouted for a consultant who was said to be a professional. It was the
consultant who discovered that the drip passing into the old woman’s body had
expired since 2012, and quickly disconnected it from her body system
Another patient who was admitted in
the same ward also complained bitterly to Beth News that she was only attended
to after two days of admission. According to her, within five days she had
spent N87,000 on medical tests alone but none of the tests could reveal the
nature of her sickness, not until when she went for extra tests that it was
discovered she was only battling with cold infections. Another patient who complained
anonymously said she was about to be transferred to general ward where she
would be paying a huge amount of money and nobody would be allowed to attend to
her. She said she resisted being transferred but instead of the doctors and the
consultant to reason with her complaint she was said to have been abandoned for
days without medical attention.
Attempts by Beth News corresponded
to get the management’s side of the story rebuffed.
We therefore call on the Lagos State
government and the people concerned to look into the matter at the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital.
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