Sani, who narrated his
ordeal to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND during the period the babies were in the hospital,
said they were dumped in the hospital for four days without even a scan carried
out on them or telling him how much was needed for their separation.
According to him, the
hospital never made any attempt to save the babies’ lives. He said: “When the
babies were referred to the National Hospital at about 4pm on Thursday, January
3, 2013, the hospital demanded the sum of N20, 000 from us, which we gave to
them. Later they demanded for toiletries for the babies, which we provided,
while they asked me to go home, and that was on Friday. I went back to the
hospital on Saturday.
They said they were carrying
out some tests and that I should go and come back on Monday because even if I
decided to come on Sunday, I won’t find anyone to attend to me. So they
demanded my contact which I gave them including that of my wife and even those
of some of my relatives before I left.
“I went to the hospital
on Monday and they apologised for not being able to reach me, claiming that all
efforts to reach me proved abortive. That was when they told me that the babies
died on Sunday.”
Sani said he demanded
the bodies of the babies so that he could bury them according to his religion
but the hospital begged him to return after three hours so that they could use
the dead babies for experiment. “I came back after three hours and discovered
that they had separated the dead bodies,” he stated.
A source disclosed to
LEADERHIP WEEKEND that the babies probably died of hunger because, while at the
Mararaba Medical Centre, they were fed with baby food since their mother could
not breastfeed them. “But at the National Hospital, they were not fed for the
four days that they survived.”
The source further
claimed that a consultant paediatrician at the National Hospital, whom the
babies were handed over to, claimed that they were brought on a weekend and
that was why they were not attended to. The babies were taken to the hospital
at 4pm on Thursday, January 3, 2012.
When contacted, the
public relations officer of the National Hospital, Prince Tope Haastrup,
confirmed that the babies died on Sunday and were taken to the mortuary. “That
is all I have to say, I can’t speak further on it.”
The president of the
Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, said he was going to carry
out an investigation as to what happened at the National Hospital before he
could speak on the matter.
The medical
superintendent of the Mararaba Medical Centre, Dr. Angela Smart, said Safiya
Sani, the mother of the twins, was referred to the medical centre at about 10am
on Thursday, January 3, from Mararaba Primary Health Centre.
Dr. Tolulope Utele, a
consultant paediatrician, Garki Hospital, Abuja, said cases of conjoined twins
happen every 50,000 live births. A majority of them face still birth or die
shortly after birth.
The survival rate of
conjoined twins is about 25 per cent. They are more likely to survive when they
are together than when you separate them.
Source:
Leadership
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