Dayo Oyewo
The family of a printer, Tunji Adebara, has accused the management of the Ikorodu General Hospital of negligence resulting in his death at the medical facility in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that Tunji, around 11 pm, boarded a tricycle while heading home from work but had an accident at the Library bus stop, along the Ayangburen Road in Ikorodu.
Our correspondent learnt that the accident happened when the driver of a vehicle attempted to overtake the tricycle carrying the printer and other passengers.
While one of the passengers died on the spot, Tunji and two other passengers in the tricycle reportedly sustained varying degrees of injury.
The driver, upon realising the magnitude of the accident, fled from the scene as some good Samaritans reportedly rushed the injured victims to the Ikorodu General Hospital for urgent treatment.
On getting to the premises, the hospital workers, instead of commencing treatment on them, reportedly demanded contacts of their relatives but to no avail as Tunji was in a semi-conscious state.
The printer, however, died due to the injuries sustained during the accident.
Tunji’s wife, Tola, who spoke to our correspondent on Tuesday, said when the whereabouts of her husband were unknown, a case of a missing person was reported to the police.
She said, “I also called his colleague at work and he told me he was the one that dropped him the previous night at the police post in Ebute, Ikorodu. That was when I knew something had gone wrong.
“We had to visit a police station where we were told to wait for 24 hours. So, the following day (Saturday) myself, his colleague and his Uncle went around the police stations in the area but could not locate him.
“After we learnt that an accident happened at the Library bus stop, along Ayangburen Road, we went to the emergency ward of the Ikorodu General Hospital but we were told that they didn’t see him.
“It was later that my husband’s uncle sighted a card with my husband’s name on it. He called the attention of the medical workers to it and the doctor in charge told us that he was brought in dead.”
The printer’s uncle, Adegbuyi Arejiogbe, said he disagreed with the narrative that Tunji was brought in dead, adding that if he was certified dead on arrival, his name would not have appeared on the hospital’s medical card.
“How did the hospital know Tunji’s name and how did some of my phone numbers appear on the card? Only the last two digits of my phone numbers were incorrect because the person who wrote it down made a mistake or because of the state he was in due to the accident,” he said.
Tunji’s nephew, Olusola Arijiogbe, said contrary to claims that the 45-year-old was brought in dead, the investigating police officer in charge of the case confirmed the printer was alive when he was rushed to the hospital on Thursday, August 25, 2022.
Arijiogbe said, “The policeman in charge of the case said Tunji gave them his name and my dad’s number as some people had stolen his two phones and money at the scene of the incident. We later got to know from some of the good Samaritans that the workers at the hospital did not attend to him because they did not get the correct contact of his relatives.”
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Hassan Taiwo, when contacted, said the information was not correct, adding that he had engaged the family members and showed them all that was done for the patient before he passed after spending 25 minutes.
“You can come to the hospital to see the records. The patient was well treated despite no relations. The relative came to the hospital three days after he was brought to the hospital,” Taiwo added.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be reached and had yet to respond to a text message sent to his phone number as of press time.
Copyright PUNCH
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
Add Comment