The Clinic |
A victim:Mrs Ifechukwude |
Following the arrest, last week, of
the owner of a Lagos-based hospital, Doctor Babawale Joshua for allegedly
mutilating the corpse of a 13-month-old baby boy in his hospital, a 37-year-
old woman identified as Cordelia Ifechukwude, has alleged that she suffered
similar fate at the medical centre.
The Aniocha North, Delta-born mother
of five narrated her experience at the No 1 Ajike close, branch of the medical
centre, a few metres away from Amje bus-stop, Alakuko, a suburb of Lagos.
According to her, “It happened in year 2000 when I took in with my first baby.
I registered at Ayinke House, Ikeja
General Hospital, but because I was advised to also register at a clinic very
close to our house, I registered at Ajike hospital at Amje bus stop, Alakuko.
We lived at Ajegunle bus stop, not too far from the clinic.
The reason we chose Ajike medical
centre was because my husband got acquainted with Dr Babawale Joshua, the Chief
Medical Director and owner of the medical centre, and in the course of their
discussion, he told my husband that he had his first degree in General Medicine
and second degree in Public Health at the University of Ibadan. That might have
prompted my husband to make up his mind about us registering at his clinic.
My pains and agony
“We trusted him based on the fact
that the University of Ibadan has a good record when it comes to medicine. I
went for Ante-Natal at the Ayinke House, Ikeja. Around the months of February/
March, I went into labour at about 5pm. My husband was still at work
then, so I went to the nearest clinic where I registered, being Ajike medical
centre. When he returned around 10pm that evening, my husband rushed to the
clinic and met me lying in the theatre. that was around 10 pm.
I had been asked to trek about 5 km.
But in the theatre, the nurses were pressing my stomach as if to force the
child out. He asked them why they were pressing my stomach that hard? They told
him there was no cause for alarm, that was how they aid women deliver babies at
the clinic. We were not comfortable with that but because it was our first
experience at childbirth, we had no option than to pray for the better. My
husband was upset when he found out the doctor in charge was yet to attend to
me since I arrived the hospital.
“Later that night, the doctor came in
to attend to me and told my husband that everything was under control. I felt
the kicks of my baby all through that evening. When my husband
returned the next morning, he was surprised that I was yet to put to bed.
Because I was yet to be attended to at that time, I complained to him that
I experienced severe pain on my left leg, and that after so much pressing and
squeezing from the nurses, the baby’s kicks were getting weaker.
He called the doctor down from the
top floor of the building. The building also served as his residence. Dr.
Babawale was not always at the clinic. He practises at the Medical centre of
Lagos state Polytechnic. What he does was to keep nurses that are not
medically qualified to attend to his patients at the Ajike Clinic.
“Also, on my second day at the clinic, my
husband confided in me that as he was taking a walk around the premises that
morning while he was waiting for the doctor to come down from his residence and
attend to me. He said he saw a dead white cat, tied to an iron protector of one
of the windows of the doctor’s main office, with something that looks like a
blue ink sprinkled on the cat. He said he was shocked at the sight but
since he did not know what it meant, he waved it off and concentrated on my
safe delivery.
“By the evening of the second day, my
baby’s kicks had stopped and I could hardly walk. But the nurse kept pressing
my stomach and claimed they could still hear my baby’s movements. The
doctor also claimed he could still hear the baby’s movement. I was later placed
on a theatre table, naked.
The doctor removed my earrings and
the rosary I had on my fingers. He sprinkled what he called
anointing oil all over me, saying I was a witch and that I did not want to
deliver the baby. At the end of the day, the second day passed and I was not
delivered of the baby.
By the third day, I was no longer
able to urinate and my left leg was literally dead. The doctor asked my husband
to bring the sum of fifty thousand Naira for a cesarean operation, that the
baby was stuck in my womb. That was when it dawned on my husband that if we
continued like that, he would not only lose the baby, but his wife as well. He
went and chartered a commercial bus that conveyed us to Ayinke House in Ikeja.
“The doctors at Ayinke were not
particularly pleased with us for taking that long to come to them. They
initially refused attending to me but when we showed them our card which was a
proof that we were registered with them, they took me in and carried out a scan
which showed the baby had been dead for some time. The report given after
examining my condition was that Dr. Babawale did a ‘bad job’.
They also said there was no need for
a cesarean operation since the baby was dead but that they would have to
evacuate the baby using forceps. When the baby was pulled out, the pain was so
unbearable that my screams engulfed the entire two-storey building that housed
the ante natal building.
The whole place was covered with a
foul stench because the baby was already decaying in my womb. Thereafter, I was
wheeled to the theatre for cleaning. I spent three days at the hospital before
being discharged. My file should still be at Ayinke as proof of this
incident.”
Petition to Dental & Medical
Council
She further told Crime Alert
that the doctor was petitioned but after several hearings and investigations by
the Dental and Medical Council of Nigeria and her lawyer, the case was rested.
“My husband petitioned Dr. Babawale Joshua at the Dental and Medical Council.
Thereafter, the Association of
International Female Lawyers’ assigned a lawyer by name, Carol Ajie to us, and
Dr. Babawale also got a lawyer. Armed with the ‘bad job’ report that
Ayinke, Ikeja wrote on how my case was handled, we headed to the panel.
Unfortunately, after three hearings at Ijebu Ode, Gateway hotel, Ota, all in
Ogun State, and Obalende Secretariat, Ikoyi Lagos, nothing much came out of it.
Although what we appealed for was
that the case be properly investigated to avoid future occurrence. From
the look of things, it seemed the Dental and Medical Council protected their
own. Nothing concrete came out of that petition and investigations. Otherwise,
these similar incidents at the medical centre would have been averted,” she
stated.
Tags
Society
It ws a sorry case, some clinic are indeed established by Devil and been run by his agents
ReplyDeleteI blame the medical society, why would they allow a clinic to be set up after all this. And its because they protect their own that their getting such a bad rep in the world of medicine.
ReplyDeleteNigerians like to wait for terrible things to happen twice or more b4 dey will do something abt it. Why are we like dis? God av mercy ooooooooo
ReplyDelete