Victoria Ogunrinde
The negligent conduct of doctors and midwives at the Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos state has led to the death of Mrs. Chigozie Winifred Opara-Oyekunle, a healthy young pregnant woman.
Late Winifred, who left home on June 8 2023, hale and hearty, headed to the hospital and hoped to see a newborn in a matter of hours. However, the expectation was cut short due to the behaviour of the midwives and doctors in charge of taking the delivery in the labour room.
Speaking to newsmen, Opara-Oyekunle’s family explained that the deceased was supposed to undergo her fourth childbirth at the Gbagada General Hospital, Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State. The negligent act occurred under the Directorship of Doctor Olusegun Babafemi, But, the pregnant woman lost her life under circumstances the doctors claimed they could not explain.
Jackie Fatoye, Elder sister of the deceased said a nurse managing her case confirmed that she was in good health and nothing suggested that there could be a life-threatening complication in the process of delivery.
“An antenatal test had revealed a breech, a situation whereby a fetus is resting with its head up and legs facing down. The doctors then prepared her mind that she might have a natural birth or cesarean section.
“She had told my mother that the doctors said if she pushed and it got difficult, they would intervene immediately and carry out a CS operation,” Fatoye narrated.
According to Doctor Abdulsalam, one of the physicians who managed the deceased, explained that they did not have an idea of what led to the woman’s death. He also claimed the woman was fully dilated.
“She was fully dilated. She had a sudden drive of joy. She had a rupture of the uterus and that made us organise an emergency CS for her. She had never had a CS. What caused that is still baffling us; we have not been able to establish any known medical reason for that. It was very strange to us,” Abdulsalam told the deceased’s family.
“The delivery process was started without any pint of blood made available in the delivery room. When the emergency arose on June 10, the midwives started scouting for blood.
“We went to the haematology unit to get blood, but we were told there was no blood. I think the lab people were overwhelmed during the weekend duty,” Abdulsalam further explained. “We had to tell the husband to go to an external lab to purchase two pints of blood.”
One of the doctors that also took part in the operation confirmed that it took them up to 35 minutes, to wait for blood before they could continue with the delivery process.
“It was Abdulsalam that directed Kunle Oyekule, the deceased’s husband, to Peak Diagnostic Services at 9 Church Street, Gbagada, where he bought two unlabelled bags of blood for N50,000”, the medical practitioner added.
“Before I returned, my wife had passed away,” emotionally distraught Oyekunle, husband of the deceased said.
The doctor said there was no blood in the hospital’s lab on June 9 when they required it, but the deceased’s husband had donated blood twice at the hospital. This should qualify his wife for free blood during childbirth.
Dr. Babafemi, the medical director, claimed blood was indeed available but the right one for the deceased wasn’t, a claim that was unidentical to Abdulsalam’s.
“Once a decision is made that such intervention would be needed, one of the things that is decided, is blood must be handy. It is not that there was no blood, but the blood that would match her own was not available. There is no time that there is no blood here,” Babafemi said at a meeting with the family, which was attended by Dr Famuyiwa, the deputy medical director, and Dr Bolu Ojuroye, the director, of clinical services and training, on June 14.
The wide gap between the claims of Abdulsalam and Babafemi is not hard to notice, and the family believes the management is concealing something from them.
Speaking further, Fatoye said that the events surrounding the death of her sister did not show her sister’s health was of any concern to the hospital. “How can a hospital claim it is striving for excellence and caring for the health of its patients without making all needed accessories available at critical times?” She asked.
