Doren Specialist Hospital Ajah: A tale of woes, tragedies and death | Victims speak

Doren Specialist Hospital Ajah: A tale of woes, tragedies and death | Victims speak

One of the men who inspired me in my University days and now a major supporter of my works and today a dear friend lost his pregnant wife to Doren Specialist Hospital’s carelessness and nonchalant attitude to their patience. Those who traits would be a enough to cause a pregnant woman’s death but add their incompetence and you have something close to a murder-network in your hands. Adekunle Sanusi is young Nigerian, widely known amongst Junior Chamber International, JCI. He lost his young, promising, pregnant wife to the above named hospital. Listening to a tape of the meeting between the deceased family and the hospital, I could already sense the I-don’t-care attitude of the medical head. Kunle in his own words to me said;

As I write you this the hospital is yet make any form remorseful apology or even any condolences to me or my family, also my wife’s wedding band and engagement is yet to be returned or handed back to me despite the fact that we had requested for it. As a matter of fact we just renewed our vows and exchanged new sets of rings we bought this last August during our summer trip to US and Dubai.

 

I choose to give you the exclusive right and mandate to write about the ills of this hospital because there are many persons who had fallen victim to their callousness and negligence, some of this person had personally come to me after they heard about the tragic event, and I am pretty sure they will give their account of their experience with the hospital.

 

I plead with you take this with attention and seriousness it deserves, I believe in your wide reach and I know by the time you start writing on this story people will come out to add their voice, I do not wish to drag legal issues with the hospital but I would love for the hospital to show remorse and humility and in all, clean up their acts in other save other people from the grief I am experiencing at the moment.

From the tape I listened to, the hospital bluntly refused to take responsibility. No sign of remorse neither did they act like two lives which had been lost due to their negligence were being discussed. I decided not to hear Kunle alone, I asked to hear from other people who had something to say about this Ajah, Lagos based hospital. Their testimonies are shared below. Except for Kunle’s name, the names of the other people have been edited for security reasons.

Mrs Umweni’s Testimony

My name is *Mrs. Umweni, I want to share my experience in Doren Specialist Hospital, Ajah; it happened in the year 2012. My two sons were brought back from school for being sick, that they were running temperature and vomiting so, when I took them to Doren Specialist Hospital, Ajah and the doctor we met was Doctor Felix (Now revealed as a Senior Medical Officer).

Upon meeting Dr Felix, he told my first son Dayo by name to open his mouth and Dr Felix said the red thing in my son’s throat is red and a little bit thing, he said the same thing of Dayo’s brother (my second son), Dr. Felix did not carry any test nor detail examination and I brought it to his notice but he said there is no need for any test.

Before we knew anything we had already paid over 20,000Naira without any particular test was being carried out and Dr. Felix prescribed some drugs and injections for my sons; right there in the Hospital before we left my sons were vomiting again and I called the attention of the doctor who said the drugs haven’t started working yet and he (Dr Felix) gave them another injection.

When we got home my sons condition worsened and I called the hospital on the phone to complain but I was told to calm down that the drugs will soon take effect and they will feel better. My son never felt better, my husband and I had to keep vigil over them because my first son Bayo was not even dilating anymore.

We were fortunate that a relative recommended another clinic of a doctor who was trained abroad, upon getting there ran some tests on my sons and came out with food poisoning diagnosis, the new doctor also made mention of the initial prescription made by Dr Felix has been wrong and dangerous to my sons.

This experience made my family really scared of going back to Doren Specialist Hospital. I would also like to state the hospital has very nonchalant and has a care free attitude towards attending to patients They are not thorough in their job and I learnt from similar victims of their incompetence that most of their doctors are youth corps members or students still undergoing medical houseman ship!

*Mrs. Joy Akpabio’s Testimony

My name is Mrs Joy Akpabio, I had cause to have my first baby at Doren Specialist Hospital, Ajah on October 2nd 2007. I was admitted in the early morning of 2nd October 2007 for induction but the induction did not take place until about 3pm later on the 2nd of October 2007 and I delivered my baby between 9 and 10pm that day.

After delivery, since it was my first baby; I didn’t know what to really expect but after cleaning my baby and all other things done, I noticed that if I get up to stand a pool of blood will gush out from me soaking my legs and private area, I feel very scared and I called the attention of the doctors but there were only nurses around and the nurse that came said it was because of my being stitched in the private that is causing the flow and it will stop, I was not convinced more so the nurse wanted to check the stitched area and I declined because I was feeling pain there.

I snapped at the nurse that if there is anything I should be given that could have stopped or control the blood flow should be done rather than guessing what the problem was; after a while the nurse came with an injection, which I was given and the blood flow stopped.

The medical director of Doren Specialist Hospital came during the time I was in labour; another lady shared my ward and she was in labour as well. When the MD came in he wanted to check our level dilation by inserting his hand into our private area, I declined seeking for the matron to be the one to do mine and to my utter surprise the MD said he was going home leaving us in the hands of nurses with no other doctors available.

I had my baby safely to the glory of God but not without being scared by the hospital, when I wanted to my second baby at another hospital this time around, it was difficult for me to pass feces and upon examination the doctors attending to me found out that I was wrongly stitched the last time I delivered which showed that anus was almost closed by the wrong stitch done at Doren Specialist Hospital.

The stitch was corrected and I had my second baby safely, I also witnessed how the  other lady that shared my ward was treated, her own case was even more worse because she eventually had her baby through CS after undergoing severe pain and agony due to neglect and untimely attendance by the hospital personnel

There were no doctors or nurses stationed with us during after delivery, it was the other lady house maid who sat with us in the ward that served as person calling the personnel attention to our need, the nurse were very nasty and abusive and uncaring.

The hospital should be stopped before more lives are lost to their incompetence and unprofessionalism

PS: Names have been edited for security reasons. Do you know anyone with a similar experience as the above persons? Please share. If the government cannot clean up the system, we might as well alert fellow citizens of the dangers out there. May Mrs. Sanusi continue to Rest In Peace. jj@omojuwa.com