A distraught father, Adeola Adetunji, has cried out for justice after his 15-month-old twin daughter, Taye, died at a private clinic owned by a paediatrician with the General Hospital in Igando, Lagos, identified simply as Dr. Joy.
The man said he was angry because he had asked his wife, Taiwo, to take the child to the General Hospital on Sunday evening after she informed him that she was running temperature.
But rather than attend to the child, the paediatrician, Adetunji alleged, lured his wife to her private hospital in Egbeda (HJ Clairoowen Medical Centre and Maternity), where blood was administered on his daughter without screening, in an unkempt environment and with no supervision.
Findings by our correspondent showed that it was a trend at most general hospitals for doctors to woo desperate patients or their families to their clinics under the guise of providing better care, only to exploit them.
Health Commissioner Dr. Jide Idris has ordered investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of the child, as well as allegations of patients poaching by doctors from government hospitals to their private clinics.
“I need to find out more about this from the managing director. The issue of doctors and nurses wooing patients is being continuously addressed as this is brought to our notice. We are using independent monitors to address this. I will investigate this. I have asked the PS, and the HSC to investigate it,” said Idris.
Speaking to our correspondent yesterday at the private clinic located at 10, Busari Street, Egbeda, Adetunji said he was only interested in justice and to save other families from falling victims of such unprofessional conduct by medical practitioners.
He said: “I have twin daughters who are one-year-and three-month-old. The one who died is Taye. I work in Ogun State, so, I was not around when it happened. But my wife had called me after they returned from church on Sunday that she observed Taye was running temperature.
“I told her not to administer any drug but to take her to the General Hospital, Igando because my house is at Igando. Not up to three minutes when they got to the hospital, she called again that the doctor who saw my daughter (Dr Joy) had referred them to a private hospital
“I asked if they were attending to them, she said yes. Later around past 11pm, as I was about sleeping, I was informed that my child had dead. I rushed down to Lagos on Monday morning, met the doctors at the clinic and my family.
“When my daughter was brought to this place, Dr. Joy wrote a referral on a discarded duplicate slip she picked on the floor and on it, she wrote Dr. Dayo that he was the one my wife would meet that he had spoken to him.
“But when I got here, I saw the doctor’s (Dr. Joy’s) husband trying to intimidate my family. He was even threatening my grandma who came to the hospital with my wife. I flared up and he came to fight me that we wanted to spoil their name, but when they saw that we stood our ground, they started begging us.
“On Monday night, Dr Joy and her husband came and were apologising that they knew they made a mistake.
It was not just a mistake, it was a costly mistake which arose from their selfishness and greed.
“My wife paid N29,000 that night. N20,000 was for blood, N2,000 for file and then other fees they charged them. They put blood on my daughter without checking her blood group. They didn’t check my wife and from what my wife told me, Dr Dayo Badmus just put the blood and left the child. No supervision.
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