An investigation has opened into the alleged rejection of a accident victim by the Maitama General Hospital. A video of the drama, which almost degenerated into fisticuffs, has been trending on social media.
But a commentator on social media saw beauty in the drama, which was resolved by a senior doctor who waded in.
He said, “In these times we live in where we don’t seem to trust ourselves in this country, it was beautiful to me that the accident victim, identified as George Imohimi, as I later learnt, is from Edo State, and he was saved from bleeding to death by a Hausa-speaking woman, who uploaded the video; and other Hausa-speaking young men who were ready to fight for him.
“Curiously, the head of the hospital, who resolved the issue is from Edo State. If he had chosen to remain in the office while the drama played out as a typical Nigerian big man, the blood of his brother would have been on his hands. We really still do love ourselves, our leaders in this country are the poison.”
Acting Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretariat (HHSS) of the FCTA, Dr Muhammed Kawu, who visited the hospital as soon as the video went viral, vowed that anyone found to have been negligent in the drama will be dealt with.
His words: “FCTA is very concerned and the Minister has directed that I come here personally and observe the situation and also ensure that it is brought under control. The investigation is ongoing, we have seen the video and we are investigating further.
“The Administration wants to assure all Nigerians, particularly FCT residents that all public facilities are for the public and every person has the right to go to any of these hospitals and must be attended to.
”This has been the policy and will continue to be so. The policy is that you take in accident victims and treat them before you look for police. We will let the public know what the issue is all about after the investigation. But now the patient is getting adequate attention. Any public servant that is found to have erred will be dealt with according to civil service rules”, Kawu said.
In his own recount, the chief medical director of the Hospital, Dr Imuentinyan Igbinovia, said, “It was on Monday around 8 a.m., about an hour prior then some accident victims were rushed in and staff were seeing them and I joined them. About 30 minutes later another accident victim was rushed in and the staff also went to attend to the second set of victims.
”Unfortunately there was an altercation between those that rushed the victims and the accident emergency staff. I was able to calm down the situation and also spoke to the lady who brought in the accident victim.
“Immediately after that, a stretcher was brought and the victim was taken into the emergency unit. After the victim was admitted and stabilised, I spoke with the Police Divisional Officer who was also around.
“The lady who brought in the victim thought that our responses would have been faster, I explained the situation to her.
”To the best of our knowledge, the matter has been settled. The victim is in the ward now receiving treatment and is getting better. To our surprise, we saw the social media messages which we have taken in good faith. I want to assure the public that Maitama hospital is poised to take care of patients and from what you can see, there is a very large crowd that come here every day”.