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‘’I wish I
will ever meet you again; INNA LILLAHI
WA INNA ILLAYHI RAJIOON ’’ from Allah
(God) we came, from him we shall all
return.
These were
the words of Mrs Ibrahim Fatimah, mother
of four and a Secondary School teacher
in Nurul Bayyan Int’l Academy,Zone 5,
Abuja, as she watch her twin babies die
helplessly at the Maitama General
Hospital, Maitama, Abuja, where they
were given birth to prematurely (7
months) on the 21st day of August, 2010.
All efforts
to put the Nurses & Doctors on their
toes in finding alternative for her fell
on deaf ears, as her voice, including
but not limited to her husband’s and
elder brother’s were only mere cry in
the wilderness. To use the words of the
Nigerian bourgeoisie, ‘’the cry of a
commoner’’
Mrs Fatimah’s
case is Pathetic indeed like millions of
other Nigerian mothers. It is not only
pathetic because she lost her twin
babies in the cold hands of death before
her naked eyes, but pathetic it was
because the death could have been
averted but for the callousness,
cruelty, bestial act and insensitivity
of the entire management of Maitama and
Garki Hospital and this Capitalist State
called Nigeria, the twin babies breathe
their last breath.
The Ordeal of
Mrs Fatimah Started on 20th July, 2010
(then 6 months pregnant) when she was
rushed to Maitama General Hospital as a
result of bleeding from her genital
organs. The bleeding was due to a car
accident she was involved in a week
earlier. However, the bleeding started
on the said 20th July, 2010.
She was
admitted in Maitama General Hospital
based on the advice of the doctor who
equally said she would be under close
monitoring because the tissues covering
and protecting the babies have ruptured.
Despite the
inhabitable nature of Maitama General
Hospital, Mrs Fatimah gave birth to a
set of twin –two boys at about 2am on
Saturday, 21st August, 2010. However,
there was an anti-climax. Matters took
dramatic turn from joy to fear, panic
and finally to sorrow –sorrow in its
entirety.
The doctors
in Maitama General Hospital informed Mrs
Fatimah that the Hospital does not have
Incubators to keep the babies who were
just 7 months. To this end, the babies
were referred to Garki, Asokoro/Wuse and
Gwapwalada Hospital but neither of these
hospitals has Incubators with oxygen nor
space to accommodate these God’s Gift
except Garki Hospital, Area 3, Abuja.
Alas! When
Mrs Fatimah and her twins were rushed to
Garki Hospital by her husband and elder
brother at about 2.30am they were all
treated with scorn, contempt and
disdain. The ladies and the young lad at
the reception insisted that the sum of
One Hundred Thousand Naira (N100, 000)
must be deposited before the babies
would be attended to. The cries and
passionate appeals of Mrs Fatimah and
others to the receptionist/nurses to
allow the babies be attended to while
they source the deposit meant nothing to
these ladies but a disco music as the
ladies were busy wriggling their heads
and chewing gums.
The elder
brother to Mrs Fatimah, Mr. Abubakar
Yusuf, a level 12 officer with National
Defence College, Abuja pledged his Car,
(a Honda Academy) and also promised to
produce the said sum at dawn as it was
too early in the morning for him to make
a deposit of One Hundred Thousand Naira
cash. These explanations further vexed
the ladies and the young lad at the
reception and they responded in the most
insolent manner that it was the orders
of the hospital management.
The poor
babies and their mother were rushed to
almost all the hospitals within the
Abuja Municipal but none of them had an
Incubator with which to keep these
future Nigerian leaders. Amongst the
hospitals visited, Nisa Premier, in Kado,
Abuja was the only one with Incubators,
but their doctors refused to admit the
babies on the ground that they were not
responsible for the babies delivery in
the first instance, therefore they fear
that other babies might be affected.
Left with no
other option, the babies were taken back
to Maitama General Hospital where they
eventually died at about 4am from severe
cold because it rained profusely
throughout the night. The babies were
later buried in Gwarinpa Estate cemetery
at about 7am on the same day being 21st
August,2010.
What a
country called Nigeria? What a way to be
called a Nigerian in Nigeria? What a way
to treat fellow citizen? What a way to
encourage patriotism? This is a country
where the future of her citizen is still
bleak amidst plenty. A country on a
rudderless journey. A country where her
citizens provide the basic social
amenities for themselves. The business
of today’s government is to enrich self
and destroy the future of her citizen.
Our Government hospitals are mere empty
buildings with only First Aid facilities
and same applies to public schools. It
is really a pity!
I wish I will
never regret being a Nigerian someday.
YUSUF AHMED TIJJANI, ESQ
NO 13, NOUAKCHOTT
STREET,
NEAR BANK PHB,
WUSE ZONE 1, ABUJA.
E-mail:
medweb2002@yahoo.co.uk
07061388076
Joseph ogar commented: It saddens
my heart hearing such a sad story.It
is unfair to treat our follow human
beings on the ground of money.This
commodity that our politicians are
lavishing on things that do not
even count.what we should understand
is that we should consider lives
first before money. money can come
thereafter but life is not easily
come by And for our country Nigeria
it apalling for such hospitals in
the country capital not to have an
incubator.
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