A nine-man panel constituted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesome Wike, has revealed that Greatness Olorunfemi, a victim of the notorious ‘one-chance’ robbers in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, was brought to the Maitama hospital dead.
Ms Olorunfemi, a community developer and member of the Young African Leaders Initiative Network (YALI), reportedly died at the hospital where she was rushed after the attack along the Katampe-Kubwa road.
Various reports on social media claimed she was denied treatment at the hospital for not providing a police report.
On 4 October, Mr Wike constituted a nine-member panel to investigate the death.
Findings by the panel revealed that contrary to social media reports, Ms Olorunfemi was not abandoned by the facility.
Findings
Speaking at the public release of the investigative report on the death of Ms Olorunfemi in Abuja on Wednesday, the chairman of the panel, Muhammad Muhammad, confirmed that the victim was brought in dead to the hospital.
Mr Muhammad said there was no evidence that she bled before arrival or after arrival at the hospital.
He said the panel had three terms of reference including to determine if the victim was brought in alive or dead, and what transpired up to the time of her death.
The panel was also authorised to find out if Ms Olorunfemi bled to death while she was in Maitama District Hospital and to make recommendations on how to forestall future occurrences.
“What is clear to us from the interview we had with all the interested parties that honoured our invitations conclusively found out that she was brought in dead and she was not bleeding and did not bleed and there was no evidence that she bled before arrival or after arrival at the hospital,” he said.
“We also found out that the nurse saw her under 40 seconds, the house officer saw her in three minutes before a casualty officer saw her in five minutes.”
He said there was no demand for a police report before attending to her “because we can see that all the people who came to see her body did not talk to the good Samaritan who brought her until after they had seen her and conveyed their findings to them.”
Based on the CCTV camera evidence, the panel stated that the victim received care at 8:35:50, 8:39:00, and 8:41:00 p.m., respectively.
The panel, however, regretted how the deceased body was handled at the hospital, emphasising that all corpses should be treated with respect.
“We also found that the handling of her body was below standard and the reason was that the system was overwhelmed at that point,” he said.
“There were three bodies and all the other beds inside the emergency were occupied by patients and then the last body to be brought before Ms Greatness was occupying the available stretcher.”
The panel noted that some recommendations have been made in improving infrastructure, staffing, training and retraining, and incentives for healthcare personnel.
Insecurity
In her remark, the Mandate Secretary, Health Services and Environment Secretariat of the FCT, Dolapo Fasawe, noted that Ms Olorunfemi’s death which was due to insecurity in the FCT, was avoidable.
Ms Fasawe said the FCT minister has directed all security arms to beef up security and that he is committed to ensuring safe transportation for commuters in the territory.
“In the next couple of months, I believe we will reduce the incidence of insecurity,” she said.
She said the FCT is working with the police to ensure there is a police post in every hospital in the territory.
She said provisions have been made to expand the mortuary and consider private partnerships “to have more support for our mortuaries.”
“I apologise to the family of Ms Greatness for the way her body was treated even after confirming her death. The human body should be treated with dignity and respect.”
Investigative panel
The panel consists of the representatives of the Nigerian Medical Association, Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, Medical Women Association of Nigeria, National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, and Association of Resident Doctors.
Others are the Association of Pathologists of Nigeria, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the General Counsel, FCTA, and the Health Services Department.
Background
The Maitama General Hospital was accused of negligence in the death of Ms Olorunfemi for allegedly refusing to treat her after she was rushed to the facility by sympathisers.
An X user, @Gbemilekhe, who shared the story on the platform, said the hospital, located in the centre of Abuja, requested a police report before treatment could commence.
A viral video on 27 September, also showed Ms Olorunfemi by the roadside along the Maitama-Kubwa expressway after reportedly being pushed out of a vehicle by a suspected criminal gang disguised as commercial drivers.
According to an audio tape from the witness that also went viral, passersby had taken her to the Maitama District Hospital for treatment but was rejected by the hospital staff over alleged refusal to present a police report.
The hospital, then said the patient was brought in dead.
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