FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRE, IDI –ABA, ABEOKUTA

The Editor,
Sunday Punch,
Lagos.
Dear Sir,

REJOINDER
WE HAVE ENOUGH OXYGEN AT FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTRE , ABEOKUTA
The Management of the Federal Medical Centre, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta seizes this medium to refute two separate interviews published on Page 56 of your Sunday 16th December, 2018 edition which attributed the death of a student of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) Olaniyi Ashimi to lack of oxygen.
According to the interviews, a sister to the deceased , Ajoke Ashimi and a colleague Ojetunde Samuel alleged that the late Ashimi died before reaching the University College Hospital(UCH) , Ibadan where he was transferred for further management because of the shortage of oxygen to sustain him on the journey.
We need to set the records straight as follows:
Ashimi, the 26yr old FUNAAB student was admitted into our Accident and Emergency department around 5pm on Wednesday, 5th th December, 2018 following a Road Traffic Crash about an hour earlier.
He was one of eighteen students involved in the RTA, rushed in by TRACE officers. They had various degrees of injuries. Seven of them had serious injuries and were admitted. Ashimi had multiple injuries that included open fractures of the right leg, head injury and blunt chest injury.
Initially, he was stable. But approximately 24hours later, he suddenly became breathless. Clinically, he had features of bilateral lung contusion and haemothorax. Bilateral Chest tube insertion was done immediately to drain the fluid in the pleural space. He had a transient relief and had to be transferred to the ICU where he was intubated for assisted ventilation. By this time he was unconscious. There was need for CT scan of the brain as well as ventilator assisted respiration. (Our CT machine is faulty) . UCH was contacted and it was agreed for him to be transferred to UCH. Oxygen availability was never an issue.
Perhaps the fact that his relations preferred to use the FUNAAB ambulance for the transfer to UCH is what created the perception that there was no oxygen as that particular ambulance was not designed for transfer of such a critically ill patient not come with oxygen.
This patient had been on oxygen right from when he needed it.
For the trip, our own ambulance equipped with oxygen and additional cylinder of oxygen was used. A senior Anaesthetist and a senior nurse transferred him. The FUNAAB ambulance, close relatives, and friends also accompanied them.
He was on oxygen throughout the journey. On arrival at UCH, however, a reported delay was due to difficulty in accessing the Intensive care Unit (ICU). A decision was then made to temporarily admit him into the A/E . Unfortunately, he died before much could be done.
It must be stated that throughout his stay in FMC, the close relations, student leaders and most especially the management staff of FUNAAB were most supportive in their respective roles. The relationship between FMC and FUNAAB is cordial to the extent that students who have health challenges are not made to pay immediately as a condition to accessing prompt medical services.
The very unfortunate incident that was alluded to was a student who was lost over two years ago. He was an off campus student who presented at a very late stage of a severe illness. Since then, we have not recorded any such incident. Over the past one to two years, tangible efforts have been made to improve service delivery and infrastructure.
I wish to state that since the inception of the new Medical Director, Prof Adewale Musa-Olomu 18 months ago, the hospital had not for once had issues with shortage of oxygen in the Centre. This is easily verifiable.
The Board of Management, under Dr Abdul ‘Aziz Labo Mahuta has been doing its best to ensure a total turn- around of the Centre.
We really sympathized with the family and the Vice-Chancellor of FUNAAB on the loss of the deceased. It is sad that a life is lost despite having done what is humanly possible. We pray that God in His infinite mercies will grant them fortitude to bear this loss.

Segun Orisajo
Head, Public Relations & Information
for Management.