The University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH) has
dismissed claims that Obadiah Mailafia, the former deputy governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was treated shabbily at the facility before his
death on Sunday morning.
On Monday, the Middle Belt Forum claimed Mailafia endured a
miserable ordeal in the hands of doctors at UATH, saying the officials refused
to attend to him despite his condition.
According to Premium Times, Bissallah Ekele, chief medical
director at UBTH, described the allegations as false.
Ekele stated that Mailafia had been attended to at two hospitals
where he tested positive for COVID-19 before he was eventually transferred to
the facility when his health had degenerated. He said the former CBN deputy
governor eventually died of COVID-19 owing to underlying diseases.
“I can confirm in my honor that all the allegations
circulating in the media are false. We never asked for any deposit before
commencement of treatment. The doctor on duty that day was on ground and
received the patient and he was never at any point refused oxygen. In fact, he
was placed on a high-flow-oxygen to enable fast breathing,” Ekele said.
“It was unfortunate that his health deteriorated rapidly
despite all efforts to save his life.”
Usman Galadima, the doctor on duty during the incident, also
dismissed the allegation that the hospital demanded a N600,000 deposit before
attending to the deceased.
“I was on duty between Saturday, September 18, and Sunday,
19. So when I resumed work in the morning, I was informed that we would be
expecting a patient from CBN and I informed my staff -the nurses and a
hygienist to prepare the VIP room and the general medical ward,” Galadima said.
“An ambulance from EHA clinics arrived in the afternoon. We
adorned our PPE and rushed to meet the patient. He was already on the ambulance
oxygen and from his oxygen consumption level, I noticed he was in a severe
condition. We placed him on a highflow oxygen with no delay and wheeled him
into the VIP section in a wheelchair.
“We are a tertiary referral centre for severe and moderate
cases of such conditions. I discussed with the patient and the wife the kind of
illness he has, the cause and treatment procedure before we started treatment.
The wife informed us that the CBN is fully behind the patients’ management and
that we should give him the best and that is exactly what we did.
“The patient got a bit uncomfortable later in the night so
we attached an official to stay with him and monitor his vital signs because of
the severity of his condition. We used about four cylinders of oxygen on him
throughout the night. In the early hours of the following day, we noticed he
was deteriorating in spite of all the treatment procedures. He could no longer
sustain breathing and we had to start resuscitation. Sadly, we couldn’t save
him.”
He added that Malaifia was already certified dead before a
foreign consultant was asked to intervene.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com