INVESTIGATION: Nigerian hospital where ‘medical negligence’ causes death of women, babies

When Sandra David, a 29-year-old staff of the Bank of Agriculture, was in March diagnosed with gall bladder complications requiring surgical correction, she asked for only a few days off work and headed for the Federal Staff Hospital, FSH, Abuja.

The facility was established by the federal government primarily for the care of its public servants, but also other residents of the Nigerian capital.

“We all expected the treatment and recuperation to take a short period and that she would return to work very quickly”, recalled late Ms. David’s sister, Sophia.

“But days ran into weeks and she was still at the hospital. Rather than tell us the truth about her situation, they waited and waited for my sister to die,” said Sophia, in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES.

PREMIUM TIMES obtained the results of medical tests conducted on Ms. David the first day she walked into the hospital. It showed that she had Cholelithiasis.

The condition entails presence of gallstones in the gall bladder, and multiple uterine fibroid, which refers to non-cancerous growths in the muscular wall of the uterus.

According to medical experts, the treatment of gall stones depends on the stage of the problem when reported; while multiple uterine fibroid had the tendency of causing the patient to develop swollen stomach.

As also indicated by the medical reports obtained from the FSH, Ms. David was expected to stay at the hospital for four days after surgery, before returning home to continue recuperation.