By: CHIMA JUPADIM
The agony of the housewife, whose husband killed their only son and inflicted deadly wounds on her body with hot pressing iron seems not over. As she contends with the excruciation pain from her wounds, she is, at present, in agony over the hospital bill for her treatment which is N1.3 million.
It would be recalled that Mercy Nnadi was battered by her husband on the allegation of sleeping with his father. The man, who also killed their one-year-old son, is currently in prison custody and facing trial for murder.
Saturday Sun investigation revealed that Mercy is fast recuperating at the New Evolution Hospital, in Okota, Lagos, a private hospital, where she was admitted immediately after the incident. However, the headache is how to offset the hospital bill, which has pitted the Nnadi family, working with three non-governmental organisations (Centa for Organisational Development (COD), Project Alert and Zahara Women Foundation, a US-based NGO) against the hospital management. As a result, Mercy is figuratively in detention in hospital, pending the payment of her hospital bill.
Owing to the controversy over the unsettled hospital bill, the management of New Evolution Hospital and the Nnadi family have been in and out of police stations. At the police station, the Nnadis accused the hospital of inflating the bill, with the hope to extort money from government, the various NGOs and individuals that have shown interest in the woman’s plight, while the hospital management say that the family is not appreciative of what it has done to save the woman’s life.
Saturday Sun gathered that the Nnadi family and representatives of the NGOs held a meeting with the management of the hospital on May 11, 2012. In the meeting, which had the hospital’s medical officer, Dr. Benjamin C. Eze, in attendance, the NGOs offered to pay N350, 000, with a promise to make other payments when the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and other spirited individuals/organisations make donations, as promised, by this month.
During the said meeting, it was gathered, the NGOs requested that Mercy be transferred to a government hospital for further treatment. Dr, Eze, according to sources, rejected the money and also objected to the request of transferring the patient. He was said to have insisted that he would successfully conclude the treatment of the patient.
He reportedly said that he would not allow any other person or hospital to “take the glory” after he had laboured to save the life of the victim. The hospital, it was learnt, also gave a condition for a part payment of Mercy’s medical bill to the tune of N1, 786, 500 if she must be moved. The hospital also projected the expenditure of N1,183, 500 if Mercy is not moved out of the hospital. Mercy is still in the hospital, while the bill remains unpaid.
Following the logjam, the head of the Nnadi family, Mr. Theodore Nnadi, who was accused of sleeping with Mercy to father the child that was murdered, told Saturday Sun that he boycotted the hospital until the management invited him for another meeting. He revealed that when he and his first daughter, Chinyere, honoured the invitation on June 8, another drama played out.
He revealed that the hospital management invited the police from nearby Ago Police Station and got them arrested. At the police station, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) advised the parties to settle their differences at home. The hospital management revealed that the DPO also advised them to report the development at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, in Yaba, Lagos, since the original case file involving the Nnadis is domiciled there.
Sequel to that, the matron of the hospital, Mary Obasi, representing New Evolution Hospital, Mr. Nnadi and his daughter, Chinyere, on June 8, were at Panti, where they had a meeting with a senior police officer. It was gathered that the police chief advised the parties to go home and settle the matter amicably. Also, the police said that once Mercy recovers fully, she would be interrogated, to get full account of why her husband nearly killed her, as he did their only son.
When Saturday Sun visited Primal Tek Plaza on Okota Road, where the office of COD Nigeria, one of the collaborating NGOs in involved in the matter, is situated, the officer in charge, Ms Nkiru Celine Okoro, was not available. When a call was put across to her, she told Saturday Sun that a meeting involving the representatives of the collaborating NGOs fighting for Mercy’s survival, the Nnadis and the hospital management was held on May 11. She also confirmed that N350, 000 was offered to Dr. Eze, with a request to transfer Mercy to another hospital.