• Female lawyers threaten legal action
• We will investigate the matter, says ATBUTH CMD
A middle-aged worker at Bauchi Radio Corporation (BRC), Adamu Yusuf Misau, has lost his wife, Seliha Yahaya Muhammad, to complication, after a stillbirth.
Adamu, alleging doctor’s negligence, said his wife, who had her antenatal at a primary healthcare facility in Bauchi metropolis, was referred to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH) where she was attended to.
He said his wife underwent surgical operations at the tertiary hospital and was later told that she needed to be placed on dialysis machine.
“They told us that their machine was not functioning at the time but referred us to the Bauchi State Specialist Hospital. This happened in the morning of August 4, but sadly, they did not release her to go for the dialysis at the Specialist Hospital until 11:00p.m. She was delayed for about 12 hours.
“When they finally released her, one of the doctors tore a sheet of paper without any letter head of ATBUTH and wrote to the receiving hospital, saying: ‘Sir, to whom it may concern, please, kindly help and suture the site that I forgot to suture. I have already dressed the site by the time I saw the suture, which she signed.”
Adamu narrated that a lady, one of the workers of the dialysis unit, asked him to pay N14,000 cash to put his wife on patient’s dress. He demanded evidence of payment, but the lady declined, saying payment of the non-receipted cash is a routine requirement in the unit.
Adamu added that on getting to the Specialist Hospital, the head of the unit was said to be on Sallah break but called some of her subordinates to attend to the emergency.
“We were not attended to until about 2:00a.m. before returning back to ATBUTH. While we were there, we narrated our experience but nothing was done to help my wife. Painfully, my wife died about two hours after,” he said.
After losing his baby and wife, Adamu has urged the state’s Commissioner for Health and his Women Affairs counterpart to get justice for his deceased wife after all attempts to see the Acting CMD of ATBUTH was not fruitful.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Female Lawyers (FIDA), Bauchi State chapter has threatened legal action against ATBUTH and Specialist Hospital if justice is not done for Seliha. The association’s chairperson, Mrs Fatima Abubakar, wondered why would a woman died of such avoidable death during childbirth.
But while reacting, the Acting Chief Medical Director of ATBUTH, Dr Saidu Abubakar Kadas, said the management was not aware of the incident. “I am just hearing this today. I have not received any written complaint in my office regarding this matter. I expected the man to have done this. We don’t joke with cases like this.”
Saidu promised to initiate investigation into the allegations of negligence on the part of the staff and do justice while urging the bereaved husband to come forward.
He said: “We need to meet him because we don’t have any details of the deceased. Also, we will ensure that the indicted staff who was said to have collected the money be identified because we don’t deal with cash”.
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