Is the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) culpable in the death of a nursing mother, Mrs Folake Oduyoye? No, says the hospital, which is contesting her family’s claim that it has a hand in her death.
Mrs Oduyoye died in LUTH last December 19 following her family’s inability to settle her medical bill.
Her death sparked a protest by two rights groups, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) and Women House for Change Initiative (WACI).
They staged a walk against maternal death and demanded that LUTH pay N50 million compensation to the bereaved family.
Denying LUTH’s culpability in Mrs Oduyoye’s death in a chat with The Nation yesterday, its Public Relations Officer, Mrs Hope Nwawolo, said the institution is not running a free service, hence patients should pay for services rendered.
Mrs Nwalolo wondered why people were portraying the institution in bad light over the incident.
“In the first place,” she explained, “the woman did not give birth here (LUTH); she did not get the complications here; she was only transferred here when the former clinic could not handle her case. We took her at the emergency ward without demanding a penny for down payment whereas it is not same in other hospitals whereby you make heavy deposit before the patient can even be admitted at the emergency ward.
“We took care of her, gave her injections, drugs and all other things necessary to make her survive. After the whole exercise and she was back on her feet hale and hearty, the family could not meet up with the bill, do we allow her to go? The Pharmacy where we procured the drugs, injections and other instruments used to revive her are demanding for payments, what do we tell them? Are we going to run this place aground because we need to pity the indigent patients? And if its run down, where else would patients run to? And if there are, won’t they pay for services over there. In most cases, some of the patients must have paid millions of naira at various private hospitals before being transferred here. We do all necessary thing to treat them only for them to say they cannot pay the bills. We even asked some of them to pay something at times.”
The PRO said the hospital runs some schemes to offset the medical bills of indigent patients.
“We opened special accounts where well meaning Nigerians pay into to cater for the indigent patients. Recently, a man gave us a cheque of N1.5 million for the medical bill of five patients, the money was not enough to offset their bills but we have to write off the balance and allow them go home. For how long do we continue to do that bearing in mind that this place is not a free health institution?
“Sometimes it is you guys (pressmen) that we called upon to help publish cases of indigent patients so that good Samaritans may decide to offset the bills. Despite these efforts, some of the patients will even tell us that they do not want their cases on the pages of newspapers, yet they do not have money for the treatment,” she explained.
Mrs Nwawolo chided the advocacy groups for disturbing public peace instead of looking for ways to assist the indigent patients.
“There are non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that solicited and contributed funds to cater for the less-privileged; they do come here to pay the bills of indigent patients. Why don’t they (WARDC and WACI) emulate such organisations? Let them organise rally to raise funds for hundreds of indigent patients and stop creating problem where there is none,” she said.
On Mrs Oduyoye’s death, the PRO said surgeries, specialised tests; interventions, dialysis, drugs and other consumables were committed in treating her.
According to her, the family of the woman still owes LUTH over N1 million.
During their protest last Thursday, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, the WARDC Executive Director, described Mrs Oduyoye’s death unnecessary and preventable.
Dr Akiyode-Afolabi said 144 women died daily of maternal complications.
“It is very unfortunate that Folake died in LUTH after she was detained for 43 days because she could not pay her hospital bills of about N1.5 million. This is contrary to Sections 32 and 35 of the Nigerian Constitution. (Section 32 is about power to make regulations while Section 35 is on right to personal liberty),” she said.
According to her, over 100 women are being detained in LUTH and some other hospitals across the country, because they cannot pay their hospital bills.
“Today, we are burying Folake; we don’t know who is next. That is why we are saying `NO’ to maternal death in Nigeria,” she said.
WACI’s Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin urged the three-tiers of government to pay attention to the health of women and children.
According to her, Nigeria ranks second in the list of countries with high rate of maternal mortality.
“Our walk today is to prove that we are tired of losing our women to maternal death and hospital negligence. In 2013, Nigeria recorded 239, 000 maternal deaths,’’ she said.
She canvassed a review of the National Health Insurance Scheme to care better for women’s health.
“We are also saying that all those women that are being detained in LUTH because they cannot pay their hospital bills should be released,” she said.
Mrs Oduyoye is survived by her husband and four children.
The widower, Mr Adeyemi Oduyoye, a printer, had claimed that the hospital detained and abandoned his wife without adequate medical care for 43 days.
