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MONDAY , DECEMBER 4 , 2017 ... City , Crime , Courts 08185225745 , 08055126196
Lagos family loses baby , tackles hospital for negligence
Samson Folarin
THE joy of a Lagos family became tears after the death of their newborn baby at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital , Idi Araba , Surulere , Lagos , due to alleged negligence of some workers in the hospital .
The head of the family , Oliver Opara , told our correspondent that a private facility in the Egbeda area of the state , Crystal Specialist Hospital , where the baby was born , was also to blame .
PUNCH Metro gathered that Baby Opara was born at Crystal Specialist Hospital on Tuesday , October 24 , through vaginal delivery .
However , he was said to have refused taking food , which created fear in the mother who called the attention of nurses to the problem .
The medical w o r k e r s allegedly said all was well until Mrs . Opara ’ s mother , who visited the hospital , discovered that the baby had swallowed some fluids during the delivery .
Within 48 hours of birth , the matter reportedly became complicated , as the hospital placed the child on oxygen and asked that he be transferred to LUTH in an ambulance .
However , the nurse assigned to the ambulance allegedly removed the oxygen mask while taking the child into the ambulance , a mistake that was not discovered until the party got to LUTH .
The doctor who attended to them was reported to have insisted that the driver of the ambulance drove back to the hospital to bring back the oxygen mask .
The child was later admitted to an emergency ward , where electricity allegedly went off for more than one hour .
The baby was said to have died around 12am on Friday .
Mrs . Opara , who did not want her first name mentioned , said she had yet to recover from the shock of her son ’ s death .
She said , “ I was delivered of the baby on Tuesday morning . Throughout that day , the child didn ’ t suck my breasts . He was only sleeping . Whenever I tried to feed him , he would do as if he wanted to vomit something that was in his stomach .
“ My mother , who came for omugo ( cultural practice of caring for new babies ), visited late that night and I told her my child had not taken any food . She asked me to call in a nurse to check him . The nurse tapped him and pushed my breast into his mouth , but he refused it .
“ The next day , the hospital asked us to buy baby food ; he still didn ’ t take it . My mum then said from her experience , it appeared the child swallowed some fluids during delivery .
“ I complained to the nurse again and told her my mum ’ s observation . She used an object to press the baby ’ s nose and some fluids came out . The baby was returned to me . He still didn ’ t eat .”
She said after a different set of nurses resumed duty , she became anxious .
She noted that efforts to make the baby eat didn ’ t work , adding that the struggle continued until 9pm on Wednesday when the child took some food after he was fed through a spoon .
The bereaved mother said by 12am on Thursday when her mother carried the baby , his stomach had become swollen .
Mrs . Opara said she raised the alarm and a paediatrician was called in to see the baby .
“ The woman said we should stop trying to feed him . She placed him on a drip till Thursday morning . Suddenly , we saw his breathing became irregular and we called in a nurse , who called the doctor and before I knew it , there was confusion everywhere . I saw the nurses and doctors running helter-skelter . I started crying ,” she added .
The boy ’ s father , Oliver , said his child ’ s condition became critical because the paediatrician did not see the baby on time .
He said the Chief Medical Director of the hospital told him to be at ease and that his child would be well .
He said , “ He referred the baby to LUTH and asked a nurse to put him in an ambulance with oxygen which had become his source of life . Unfortunately , the nurse , who was in haste , removed the oxygen mask before she put him in the ambulance .
“ When we got to the emergency unit at LUTH , a doctor who came to attend to us asked where the oxygen the boy was using to breathe was .
That was when it dawned on us that the nurse had removed it .
“ They had to send the driver back to the hospital to bring the oxygen mask . When I saw that the boy was not breathing well and the driver did not come back , I had to run back to the hospital to bring the oxygen . That took some time .
“ When the oxygen mask finally came , instead of LUTH to start the treatment immediately , they began the process of documentation .
Photo : Twitter
identification , Ayo FBI @ PureMind , said a student of the Obafemi Awolowo University , Ile Ife , Osun State , who was the only son of his parents , was killed by SARS men .
He wrote , “ In 2009 , my
They asked us to buy all kinds of things before they started the treatment .”
He said after some time , his child was transferred to the ward where treatment started .
While on oxygen at the unit , power went off , Oliver said .
“ They didn ’ t have a generator to power their equipment for more than one hour . I discovered that women who were just delivered of babies were accommodated in a place where you have to pay N2,100 for a space . I also had to pay to get a space for my wife .
“ They conducted an x-ray and said my baby was alright . In fact , around 11pm , I saw the boy kicking and I started thinking my baby was getting better . By 12 midnight , I was called that my baby was dead ,” he added .
Oliver insisted that both hospitals were to blame for his son ’ s death , wondering why it was his wife ’ s mother that discovered that his child
Mob chases SARS operatives for shooting
... Nigerians call for scrapping of SARS
Afeez Hanafi
THERE has been uproar on the social media after some operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad , Lagos State Command , allegedly shot a youth in the Yaba area of the state .
The criticism followed a viral video which showed an angry mob chasing a black bus used by the operatives .
A Twitter user , Charley , had posted about the shooting on his handle @ yabakid , but did not indicate the exact location in Yaba or the identity of the victim .
He wrote , “ A SARS officer just shot a boy in the head right in front of me WTF ! I ’ m so shocked !
“ This happened in Yaba on Thursday right in my hood . They ( SARS men ) stole the phone of a ‘ yahoo boy ’ and shot another boy in the arm . The youth in the area mobilised and gave them a chase .”
Many Nigerians had taken to the Internet , expressing their experiences and those of their relations and friends in the hands of SARS across the country .
• Screengrab of the incident
The protest was hinged on the # EndSARS campaign , an online petition to the National Assembly which had almost reached its 10,000 signatory targets as of 2pm on Sunday .
A p o s t e r , w i t h t h e
• Baby Opara mom ’ s friend ’ s son , Biodun , who was a student of OAU was going to Ibadan ( Oyo State ) from Ile Ife on the June 23 and was killed by SARS because they wanted to take him away and he resisted because he didn ’ t do anything . He was his mother ’ s only child . # EndSARS .”
A Twitter user , identified as Negro boss ,@ pmjovie , lamented that he was unlawfully detained for six months .
“ Some years back , a popular artiste was killed by cultists in LASU and SARS packed all of us at a bar . We were released six months later . # EndSARS ,” he said .
One Tessyama , @ tescool , said he and his friends were robbed by SARS operatives about two years ago in a bar .
“ Was it not SARS that robbed me and some friends in a bar two years ago ? We thought they were robbers until the bar owner told us it ’ s SARS men and that ’ s how they frustrate them there ( at the bar ). # EndSARS ,” he tweeted .
Another Nigerian , Moshood Alli , explained how he coughed up N40,000 for no offence .
He said , “ SARS at Lagos VI intercepted my motorcycle ,
Photo : Samson Folarin
searched me , found nothing but school ID , claimed it was fake , accompanied me to my hotel room , found my phones and received N40,000 in payment via ATM . # EndSARS .”
Ali Haruna Babatunde wrote , “# EndSARS . They came to my neighbourhood , drank and didn ’ t pay , when the seller threatened to report them , they started shooting into the air .”
A user identified as Cross , @ Elcrucifixio , said he was taken for a suspect because he looked good .
“ Your civil rights disappear the moment SARS holds you . I am not even a yahoo boy , but I kept begging them when they held me at Ikeja . I was running late for a business pitch , and my offence was ‘ dressing too fine , but not be into fraud ’. Sigh ,” he posted .
A woman , Pets for Sale , @ owhreoluwa , also joined in the campaign , saying , “ Even as a woman , you are not safe from SARS and their wahala ( trouble ). I ’ ve been manhandled by one on the road before because ‘ Wetin small girl like you dey carry two phones do .’”
Somto Ronald explained that SARS operatives extorted N40,000 each from him and 23 others over a fight they were not involved in .