This piece is a hard one for me to write, hard and very difficult. As I write this, I am filled with deep sorrow for what could have been that was not. This piece is not intended to do anything but to warn unsuspecting members of the public. A warning that is necessary at this time because “evil deeds thrive when good men do nothing”

My discourse is centred on the level of mismanagement, inefficiency and a total lack of respect for life exhibited by management and staff of EKO Hospital on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja.
My friend’s wife, Dolapo, a young mother of 2 boys , with a promising banking career, pregnant with the 3rd child had complained of leg pains to her husband on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. Her husband took her to the EKO Hospital for treatment (their registered HMO provider), they were told that the leg pains were normal for pregnant women at her stage and were subsequently given some paracetamol tablets to use.

Getting home, the pains did not subside, in fact, it grew worse. It got to a point that she could not walk with the legs on her own. The husband had no choice but to return to the hospital on Friday April 3, 2015 at around 3pm when it was obvious things were not getting better. At that point, The doctor on duty advised them to wait for the consultant and Dolapo was made to sit out the ‘’wait’’ in a wheelchair as her legs could no longer support and carry her, in any case the consultant did not show up until Saturday afternoon being 04/04/1. She repeatedly beckoned on the staff on duty to perform a CS and safely get the baby out as she could sense and feel that something was ominously wrong. The pregnancy was well into 8 months. Some scan were recommended and the person to conduct the scan had reportedly closed for the day and only surfaced at about 9pm on Friday and the wait dragged well into the night

Dolapo was in pains on the wheel chair, she was being moved from her ward to the scanning room when the head of the baby came out on the wheel chair, her husband screamed and rushed her quickly into the elevator, yes, ELEVATOR!!. The baby could not stand the trauma, he came out in transit, right there in the elevator. A nurse had to hold the baby’s head, supporting it while the elevator goes to labour theatre, the baby was pulled out before they could make it to the theatre. This was at 9.30pm on Friday. The baby became the centre of attention for the hospital staff of Duty while neglecting Dolapo all alone for more than 1 hr 30 mins while they attended to the baby to revive him.
She was left unattended to, in pains, right there in the theatre. She was eventually moved back to her ward . The consultant eventually turned up around 4pm on Saturday. The husband engaged him and he requested that some tests be done to ascertain what level of treatment or care to give. He was told she (the wife) would be fine and the test results would be ready by Tuesday because of the holidays.
On Sunday, April 5, 2015, at about 8am in the morning, I visited her in the hospital and sat beside her on the bed offering words of encouragements. She was still in pains, and she was hardly audible, she could only answer in nods and made attempts at a faint smile to reassure myself and her husband that she would be fine.

It came as a rude shock when I called the husband at about 12 pm and he was crying profusely, saying Dolapo is lying down lifeless and that I should please pray. I was to say the least devastated, I was asking loads and loads of questions and he kept saying please pray, pray.
I got to the hospital to meet the lifeless body on the bed, she was dead! What happened? How did this happen? Nobody could offer any explanation. There was no doctor around, I asked the nurse on duty and she just said she is dead. I recalled she was eating when I left earlier, how could she have gone from eating to being dead in less than 3 hrs?

The husband told me she was given an injection to suppress the pains on her leg and immediately started gasping for breath, oxygen tanks were brought in to revive her but it was too late. She was gone before anything could be done.
The body was left in the room for more than 24 hours, several prayer sessions were held to bring her back to life. In the more than 24 hrs period after her death, no doctor from EKO Hospital came out to say this was what happened. No personnel came around to ask people to leave the room, the body was not covered nor washed. It was simply business as usual for them.

It was normal for someone to give birth and die? The Medical Director of the hospital did not deem it fit to offer explanation or even try to prevail on the family to leave the body so that necessary medical procedures could be done.
I will leave my readers to ask questions from this write up, perhaps, I am being too expectant, maybe too optimistic about my expectations from a Hospital as reputable as EKO Hospital!

The family has accepted their fate and decided to move on…. But should we move on? Should we just accept this as normal? I was talking to a friend in my office yesterday and was shocked when he informed me that his wife also died in this same EKO Hospital some 6 years back and the same treatment was meted out on him!
Please pass this story around, let people know what is going on, don’t stop until it gets to the right quarters where something could be done to save others and for the doctors and hospitals to be more responsive to their duties of saving lives and not taking lives. Dolapo is gone but who knows who will be next??

RIP Dolapo


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R.i.p, such a promising young woman, health care system of this country is zero.

I am sorry to hear of your loss.

In nigeria i am afraid to say it is 'common' for women to die in pregnancy, we are in the top 5 for maternal and perinatal deaths in the world. Worse than some so called less developed african countries.

Indeed it is a sad story, there is evidence of medical negligence in the way the hospital did not attend to a pregnant woman in a timely fashion who was obviously in distress. She should have been admitted to a high risk pregnancy unit and the consultant obstetrician on duty should have attended to her immediately. She should have had a doppler scan of the legs performed to rule out an embolus. Emergency radiology cover should have been available to perform any scans deemed necessary. The 'Oga is not on seat' mentality should not be applied to hospitals
Unfortunately Nigerian hospitals are not really set up to provide 24 hour round the clock consultant led care, the public simply can not afford it for a start and there are not enough consultants or specialists to provide this service. So we have to cope with what is available. That is why many go abroad to have their babies.
It sounds to me like the Lady had a thromboembolic episode which lead to a pulmonary embolus and cardiorespiratory arrest from the history given but alas i was not there so i do not know for sure. It is also possible she might have been given a painkiller which suppressed her breathing but any good hospital should be able to remedy this situation with oxygen and the the right drugs to reverse the effects.

The hospital doctors should have had a meeting with the family to explain events and note their concerns. Maybe there would have been closure especially if the death was sudden and unavoidable as sometimes the family may not understand the situation fully. Good communication skills always helps defuse tension in situations like this. If the family is still aggrieved they should request an audience with the management and senior doctors. Unfortunately we don't really have the ethic of accountability ingrained in us as Nigerians.

However, my prayers are with the family and i hope they learn to cope with their loss and console themselves with the arrival of the new born child

This is just too sad.i hate reading incidents as this

I read this from beginning to the end.its a pity indeed.Rip to her.
but
I will blame the doctors and especially the husband.

why didn't the husband take her to another hospital immediately he realized the kind of services they offered.
#continuation...was typing wen my phone went off

without mincing words some health workers just have this lackadaisical attitude but my blame is still on the husband.probably he stayed back cos their services were affordable and could not afford a costlier hospital.whatever it is...RIP to the lady.

the hospital no try at all.
and the husband no try too

prettyjo:
I read this from beginning to the end.its a pity indeed.Rip to her.
but
I will blame the doctors and especially the husband.

why didn't the husband take her to another hospital immediately he realized the kind of services they offered

Please be considerate, don't make things worse than they already are for the husband as he is mourning his loss.

Eko hospital is a good hospital besides you can't just put someone who is unconscious or very sick in a car and drive to another hospital.

Babyosisi made some complains about such sometimes ago only for the eko oni baje group to come and attack people on the thread

WORTHY OF NOTE!!!

Re: Dolapo Incident........

Please do not judge this case without listening to the other party. The above information may not be completely true because as far as i am concern, for me i have been using Eko Hospitals for years now and their service is one of the best so far. In-fact my wife had a set of twin just last month (March) Via Operation and everything went perfectly. Therefore, we should all know that MOST TIME we human are just trying but God has the final say.......

Eko Hospital is gone,not the same hospital i used to know.Such a sad story.