Three months after Babatunde Williams’s wife, Chinwe, gave birth to a baby boy
through a caesarean section; the couple has remained stranded in a private
hospital in the Surulere area of Lagos State.
It was learnt that the hospital, Midas Touch Clinic, had stopped attending to
the baby’s mother because the family had yet to pay about N500,000 bill
incurred so far.
gooo/metro-plus/couple-stranded-in-hospital-months-after-child-delivery/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>PUNCH gathered that
30-year-old Chinwe, who hails from Imo State, had been on admission in the
hospital since October 13, 2014. It was learnt that after the
caesarean section, the woman underwent another surgery when she continued to
bleed days after the birth.
The hospital had charged N300,000 for the two surgeries while charges for
accommodation, nursing care, and discharge as of December 15, 2014 stood at
N172,000.
The bills read in part, “As of October 10, 2014: Surgeries N300,000; discharge
N32,000. As of November 28, 2014: Second discharge, N80,500; accommodation,
N34,000 and nursing care, N25,500.”
The hospital, since last Saturday, stopped attending to the nursing mother when
there was no sign that the bills would be settled.
Chinwe said:
the operations is still there. I am so weak that I cannot breastfeed my baby.
We used to buy baby milk for him, but we have resorted to giving him pap when
we could no longer afford the milk.
they have given up on us because they are no longer coming. The doctor stopped
treating me because of the debt that keeps increasing. All my capital as a
trader is exhausted.”
been sacked by the company he was working for because caring for his wife took
part of the company’s time. He added that Chinwe’s stomach swelled up after the
surgeries.
He said:
N14,000 per pint. I am always with her to see how she fares. In fact, our first
child sleeps with us here in the hospital. I lost my job when I did not show up
in the office after 10 days. I am fed up. God have mercy on us.”
hospital manager had been kind to him, he was now under pressure to pay the
bill.
that his money was not forthcoming, he ordered his workers to stop treating
her,” he added.
telephone, the manager of the hospital, Dr. Tola Fasaye, said he ordered the
nurses to stop treating the patient to hasten the payment. Fasaye said he had
done a lot to assist the couple, adding that he was cash-strapped.
He said:
condition was critical. We just had to save her life first even though her
husband did not deposit a dime. After the caesarean section, we discovered that
she had perforated uterus. Even the blood she used, I personally borrowed money
to buy them before he (Williams) paid me back.
stop the dressing of the wound because the husband is proving smart. I know he
does not have money, but he should go out and look for money to pay the
bills.
humanitarian ground, I will tell my staff to dress her wound.”
