Family members of Bilikisu
Abubakar Mohammed, a
54-year-old grandmother,
are regretting why they
ever took her to National
Hospital, Abuja, after she was
involved in a domestic accident
that left her with a fractured
ankle on January 29.
Hajia Jamila Muktari, one of the
relatives, said Bilikisu with
hospital registration number
362625, was wheeled into the
operating room for surgery on
the leg last Friday and later
taken to the female surgical
ward to recuperate.
According to Jamila, during the
surgery in the hospital’s
theatre, the patient’s thigh
region on the left leg was tied
very tight to stop blood from
flowing into the ankle region
that was being operated upon,
but after the operation the
surgeon or theatre nurses
forgot to untie the rope for
blood to flow round the leg.
She said from 1pm on that day
until 10 pm, the patient kept
wailing that her leg was
seriously paining her in the
thigh region but the nurses on
duty ignore her, while the
doctor on night call felt only the
surgeon that performed the
operation could explain the
agony.
“We approached the nurses to
do something about the pains
but they were so
uncompromising and one of
them even said the pain is from
the patient’s mind.
Hajia Jamila said before the
surgeon’s attention was drawn
to the patient’s pain the next
day, the thigh had swollen with
clot blood and she had to be
taken for a second operation to
drain the clot blood from inside
her lap and body region.
The woman died at 3 pm
Monday inside the female
surgical ward of the hospital
and her family were asked to
pay an additional N140,000
before removing her corpse,
which was buried according to
Islamic rites in the evening of
that day in Abuja.
Mr. Tijani, a male relative of the
deceased, wondered how a
minor ankle injury could claim
the patient’s life and accused
the hospital’s medical officials
of negligence, adding that he
bought most of the drugs
prescribed for her outside the
hospital.
Another relative called for a
proper investigation of the
matter by the federal
government and Nigeria
Medical Association in order to
prevent such negligence from
happening to other people. The
relative blamed the nurses at
the ward for ignoring the cry of
the patient.
When our reporters approached
the matron of the female
surgical ward for comments
about the incident Monday
evening, she said nobody died
in the ward.
A doctor who overheard the
chat with the matron asked
whether we were relatives of
the deceased and the matron
quickly informed him that we
were journalists before he told
us to meet the hospital’s chief
medical director for comments
on the issue.
“There is a procedure here and
you need to see the CMD for
such comments,” the doctor
said.
The Spokesman of National
Hospital, Tayo Haastrup, said
yesterday that the hospital is
investigating the matter and
the findings will be made
available to the press.

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