A women right group have asked the Lagos University
Teaching Hospital, LUTH to pay the family of Mrs Folake Oduyoye,35, mother of
four who died in their custody, over her inability to completely settle a bill
of N1,382,700. The victim gave up the ghost 43 days into detention. It was
gathered that her husband, a printer had earlier looked for N300,000 which he
paid to the management and begged to pay
the balance at a certain period of time,
but the hospital allegedly turned deaf ears to him and detained his wife, until
she died in their custody!. Too sad
‘’When earlier this year a campaign tagged “Not Again”
was launched by notable women human rights group, Women Advocates Research
& Documentation Centre, WARDC, calling for concerted efforts towards ending
the increasing number of Nigerian women who die at childbirth, not many
understood the need for more of such campaigns in Nigeria until a couple of
weeks ago when another needless maternal death dramatically occurred.
That death this time around resulted from the alleged
detention of a mother of four at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH,
in Lagos, leaving behind four little children, the youngest being 4-month-old.
Illness during custody
The deceased, 35-year-old Mrs.Folake Oduyoye who was a
fashion designer residing at Ijesa-tedo in Lagos, was said to have been
admitted at LUTH on 7th September, 2014, following complications arising from
her delivery at a private hospital on 30th August, 2014. She was discharged by
the hospital on 31st October 2014, but allegedly prevented from going home for
failure to settle her hospital bill.
Her husband, Mr Adeyemi Oduyoye, a printer, had paid
N300,000 leaving a balance of 1,082,700. Adeyemi was said to have written a
letter dated 11th November, 2014, to the Chief Medical Director of LUTH,
appealing for a waiver and structured payment to offset the balance monthly.
That letter reportedly yielded no reaction from the management.
The deceased later died in detention on 13th December, 2014,
from a cough-related illness for which she allegedly received no care and
treatment while in LUTH’s custody and was also prevented from seeking treatment
anywhere else.
This case, according to women human rights groups, raises
a number of issues that border on the violation of fundamental human rights of
women and children which are guaranteed in international and regional
instruments which Nigeria is party to, as well as in national frameworks.
Call for independent post-mortem, compensation
In a petition to the management of LUTH, the two groups
handling the case, WARDC and the Women Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON), are
asking the management to conduct an independent post-mortem examination to
ascertain the cause of death of Late Mrs. Oduyoye, as well as compensate the
Oduyoyes or risk legal action.
Also condemning strongly the practice of
illegal detention after birth for women who cannot afford the cost of treatment
for pregnancy and child birth related issues, they asserted that the penalty
for non-payment of hospital fees for maternal health care should not be false
imprisonment.
Debt not criminal
“Section 35 (1) of the 1999 Nigeria Constitution provides
that “no person shall be deprived of their liberty save in cases such as in
execution of the sentence or order of a court in respect of a criminal offence
of which he has been found guilty”.
Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Right which Nigeria is party to provides that “everyone has the right
to liberty and security of person and no one shall be subjected to
arbitrary arrest or detention except on such grounds and in accordance with
such procedure as are established by law”.
The matter of not being able to pay up the balance is a
civil matter and not a criminal one. Hence, the management of LUTH should have
taken the option of going to court to compel the couple to pay their balance
instead of detaining anyone,” Dr (Mrs) Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi and
Chief(Mrs)Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, Executive Directors of WARDC and WOCON
respectively, said.
LUTH reacts
In a swift reaction, Acting Chief Medical Director of
LUTH, Prof. Chris Bode, at a press briefing penultimate Saturday in Lagos,
however said that the death of Mrs.Oduyoye was regrettable as it occurred despite
the hospital management’s efforts and ‘not because of negligence.’
“Our healthcare team had kept her alive in spite of the
ongoing health workers’ strike. This lady came into LUTH in critical condition,
unconscious and infected from a caesarean section performed in another
hospital. She underwent a major operation at which plenty of pus was evacuated
from her abdomen.
“She underwent a tracheostomy, creating a hole on her
neck to enable her breath and stay alive. She was admitted into the Intensive Care
Unit, with multiple organ failure, and for one month she was on ventilator, a
machine which was breathing for her. She also developed two episodes of cardiac
arrest from which she was rescued. She also developed renal failure for
which she underwent four sessions of haemodialysis.”
“The multiple surgeries, specialised tests,
interventions, dialysis, drugs and consumables cost N1.5 million. The
family paid a total of N300, 000 and requested that a total bill
of N1.2 million be waived. The husband requested to pay in
installments of N15, 000 per month and this was accepted, but he could not
bring anyone to stand as guarantor. The conditions of Oduyoye became suddenly
poor and she died of pulmonic complications on Dec.13,” Prof Bode said.
Source: Vanguard
