Group mulls intervention in cases of hospital negligence as protests grow over deaths

Following a spike in deaths traced to alleged negligence by hospital personnel, a human rights body says it will make its business this year to take up such matters on the behalf of the aggrieved.
Said Frank Tietie, the head of the Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER): “One advocacy of CASER this 2019 is tackling the issue of medical negligence. This is with the aim of setting the standards of operations and redress.”
He urged members of the public to bring to the attention the group all such cases of medical negligence.”
His position followed a protest that took place at the Asokoro District Hospital in Abuja over the death of 25 years old Kafayat Abdul-Azeez.
Last month also, a mother lamented how alleged negligence on the part of medical personnel of the National Hospital led to the death of her 17 years old undergraduate son, Paul Kelechi Akpala, shortly after he was knocked down by a motorist at Julius Berger junction.
The hospital management promptly denied her allegations, which went viral on social media.
The Leadership newspaper reported Wednesday that protesters disrupted activities, for some hours, at the Asokoro Hospital, over the death of a 25-year-old, graduate of University of Abuja, Ms. Kafayat Abdul-Azeez.
The protesters, comprising mostly of some family members, friends and colleagues of the deceased, protested at the entrance gate of the hospital, accusing the management of negligence.
Speaking with newsmen, the spokesperson for the protesters, Sarah Dansoho, alleged that Abdul-Azeez died due to lack of adequate care by doctors and nurses in the hospital.
But the chief medical director of Asokoro Hospital, Dr. Uche Afiomah, debunked the allegation that the deceased died due to negligence from the hospital workers, adding that an investigative panel has already been constituted to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death.
Dansoho insisted that Abdul-Azeez would have survived, if only the hospital workers had given adequate attention to the deceased, just as she called on government to urgently reform the healthcare system, to stem the tide of unnecessary loss of human lives in public hospitals.
“Today, we are calling for urgent action. We are here to seek for explanation, to seek for justice and to ask questions on the death of our friend, sister and colleague. It is our belief that our friend died due to negligence by the nurses at the Asokoro Hospital.
“We gathered that a doctor prescribed medicine for Kafayat Abdul-Azeez, but the nurses did not inform the family of this prescription till the next day. The nurses on duty on the day of the incident must be brought to book to ensure that this never happens again. This has happened to many Nigerians in other hospitals.”
Afiomah maintained that the deceased was admitted in the hospital on14th February, 2019 and was given the best attention that a patient deserves.
“The hospital attended to Kafayat Abdul Azeez, who actually  registered with the hospital on the 14 of February, 2019 at 13:00 hours at the accident and emergency units.
“She was seen by the senior medical doctor on duty, who checked, examined and treated her, according to the ethical guideline for emergency.
” She was also attended to within an hour of admission by a consultant physician and another family physician, who manage the accident and emergency unit, with all due care instituted. 24 hours later another consultant also reviewed her and managed her until 16th of February when she died.”
Additional reports by Leadership newspaper