Posted by By CHRIS ANUCHA on
The lives of a mother and her unborn baby have been terminated at a maternity home in Lagos by a nurse who attempted to bite more than he could chew by carrying out a surgical operation on the woman at childbirth.
The lives of a mother and her unborn baby have been terminated at a maternity home in Lagos by a nurse who attempted to bite more than he could chew by carrying out a surgical operation on the woman at childbirth.
The nurse, Samson Adeleke who is the Director of Covenant-Love Nursing Home, Ayobo had on May 25 wheeled Mrs Kemi Afolabi to the 'theatre" for a caesarian section following difficulty she encountered in giving birth, but she and her baby died after the operation.
The 44-year-old 'acting doctor" is already being held by the police who have begun investigations into the incident.
Investigations by Daily Sun revealed that Adeleke had already confessed to detectives at Ayobo Police Station that he indeed carried out a surgical operation on Mrs Afolabi to deliver her of a baby, adding that she later gave up the ghost due to enormous loss of blood while the baby also died in the process.
According to him, the deceased was rushed to his clinic from a herbal home, David Dada Traditional Hospital by the owner, Mr David Dada, alongside Mrs Afolabi's mother on May 25.
The Osun State born nurse attempted to justify his action when he told police detectives that he was encouraged to carry out the surgery because of his 'wealth of experience," acquired overtime when he watched doctors perform surgical operations in the theatre.
'Occasionally, surgical procedures are done in the clinic by me. I'm neither a doctor nor surgeon, but because of the wealth of experience I have as a peri-operative (theatre) nurse, I am able to perform some surgical procedures," he said.
He, however, disclosed that the law permits him to operate on h is patients under the supervision of a medical doctor, but failed to explain why Kemi's case was different.
Though the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria gave him the licence to practise as a nurse, his Covenant-Love Nursing Home has not been registered by the government. He however, said that the process of registering the clinic was still on.
Adeleke explained that he was registered as a qualified nurse in 1984, while he obtained his peri-operative nursing certificate at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Ile-Ife in 1993. According to him, the operation was completed and the deceased taken to the ward at about 11p.m. on the fateful day, adding that shortage of blood was responsible for her death.
The herbal practitioner, who was arrested and detained alongside Adeleke, has been left off the hook.
The 50-year-old Dada, from Ekiti State said his traditional hospital was registered by the Lagos State government, while he was also given licence to use some orthodox equipment, like thermometer and stethoscope.
He said Kemi, who registered for ante-natal in his herbal hospital in February, was given concoction several times 'to enable her baby get energy and I admitted her on the night of May 22 2005."
The deceased's husband, Mr Olaniyi Afolabi (25), said it was her late wife that decided to patronise the herbal medicine practitioner who referred her to the nursing home where she was butchered.
'She took herself to David Dada Traditional Hospital, before she was referred to Covenant-Love Nursing Home, and when I got there to see my wife, she was dead," he lamented.
Afolabi who claimed to be a student of an undisclosed school, said the baby also died and was buried earlier before the mother gave up the ghost.
Meanwhile, the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, Yaba for further investigations and possible prosecution of the suspect.