By Etim Etim
The death of a pregnant woman at Ikot Ekpene General Hospital due to the absence of a doctor has once again proven that without a team of dedicated and diligent personnel, government’s investments in public service will not amount to much. Ikot Ekpene General Hospital is one of the best equipped medical facilities owned by the Akwa Ibom state government. It was among the government-owned hospitals refurbished and rejigged by the Udom Emmanuel administration across the state between 2020 and 2023.
But when Mrs Ndiana Sunday Amos arrived the hospital over the weekend to give birth, there was no doctor on duty to attend to her promptly. Reports say her pregnancy was complicated by a condition known as placenta previa, a complication in which the placenta partially or completely covers the cervix, which can cause bleeding and other issues. By the time the doctors eventually arrived and a caesarian section was performed, her baby had died. Mrs Amos later passed on due to excessive loss of blood. A video showing her in pains at the throes of death has since gone viral. The outrage across the country is huge. Gov. Umo Eno and Akwa Ibom people are understandably embarrassed by the tragic death of this woman. She and her baby would have survived had she received prompt attention.
This case reminds me of what happened to my childhood friend in Canada last April. A Nigerian-Canadian, he arrived a hospital in Calgary with a medical emergency, and for seven hours, there was no doctor to attend to him. The nurse on duty had no idea of what to do; my friend went into cardiac arrest and died. He waited for seven hours in a Canadian hospital for care that didn’t come! The family has taken up the matter with the relevant authorities in Canada. Negligence can occur anywhere and that’s why medical supervisory bodies have put in place measures to address such situations.
Another friend died last month in a Lagos hospital. A diabetic, he had suffered a fall at home and began to bleed. He was rushed to hospital but there was no doctor available. A nurse on duty hurriedly administered a wrong medication and my friend suffered heart attack and died. He was buried last week. In the case of Mrs Amos, I am pleased that the Akwa Ibom state government and the House of Assembly are investigating the matter. In fact, the commissioner for health, Dr. John Ekem, was said to have rushed from Uyo to Ikot Ekpene late at night last Saturday when he got wind of the situation; but it was too late when he arrived. Gov. Umo Eno must be quite firm on this matter to serve as a lesson. All the negligent personnel should be called to account for the death of this woman and her unborn child and adequate measures be put in place to prevent future occurrences at any hospital in the state.
A broader context to the Ikot Ekpene tragedy is the poor work attitude of public officials. Many civil servants approach their work with a terrible a lack of passion, commitment and diligence. All they care about is their salary, pensions and gratuities. They complain and grumble all the time. Many lapses occur at our public institutions because nobody cares. The reason we got to knowing of the fate of Mrs Amos is because she lost her life and her relatives were around to record her experiences on camera. This is the good side of citizen journalism. What is the situation in our public schools? What is the attitude of the teachers and the quality of learning that our children are getting at public there? You’d be surprised to know that a lot of teachers in public schools, especially those in rural communities, do not attend classes.
Some of them have other jobs and they have understanding with the principals to stay away from school with understanding to share their pay with the principals. Other public services like fire service, garbage collection and environmental protection, roads and facilities maintenance are poorly carried out across the country because those who are responsible lack the passion and dedication for the job. I have often heard that civil service rules and strong unions are very protective of civil servants and make it difficult to discipline the errant ones. That’s why we often hear words like ‘’even the governor cannot sack a cleaner in civil service’’.
There’s a strong need for attitudinal reorientation of our civil servants, especially medical personnel. Why were those doctors not on duty at the hospital in Ikot Ekpene? Why did it take two hours for a doctor who was not on call to arrive? Why are the doctors on call not resident in the hospitals? Late one night in August 2001, my pregnant wife woke me up, with alarm and in her voice. She was bleeding. From Surulere, Lagos, where we lived then, we sped onto Eko Bridge to St. Nicholas Hospital on the island where she was receiving prenatal care. As soon as I pulled up in front of the hospital around 1am, a wheelchair appeared and she was quickly wheeled in. (The workers had been trained to know that anybody who arrives that late must be an emergency case. It’s the culture!). I was pleased to see the alertness, professionalism and dedication of everybody on duty, including the receptionists, the doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists. They were all awake and on duty. By dawn, my second son was delivered through caesarian section. He’s a banker in Lagos today.
It is intolerable for any woman to die during childbirth. Not in this 21st century. Not in Akwa Ibom where the government is working daily to upgrade public facilities and build new ones. It’s now time to upgrade the attitudes of our officials.
