Semako Hunpe, a grieving father resident in
Lagos has dragged a female Indian doctor,
Bharathi Jayaram practising at the Prema Sai
Hospital, a private hospital located in Agege Lagos
state before the Lagos state High court over
claims of unprofessional misconduct that led to
the death of his wife Mrs Oluwasetemi Hunpe
(pictured above), and scarring of their new born
baby during his wife's delivery at the Indian
doctor's hospital on February 26th this year.
Narrating his ordeal to Tribune, Semako said his
wife Oluwasetemi had registered at the hospital
on February 17, 2014 for antenatal services with
the hope that she would have a stress free
delivery with the Indian doctor. A week after
registering at the hospital, she started
experiencing some pre-delivery signs and decided
visit the hospital. According to Mr Semako, his
wife was given some injections and told to wait till
about 5pm on February 26th before she would be
taken in to the delivery room.
"When she went into labour, she was ordered
to engage in minor exercises to help aid the
labour. Before she entered into the labour
room I can remember clearly that she was
normal like all pregnant women that I had
seen; she walked into the labour room by
herself. I was invited into the labour room
after several hours of intense labour without
adequate care and was asked to encourage
my wife to push out as she appeared
exhausted sequel to prolong hours of labour.
On getting to the labour room, I found a
nurse applying Aboniki (hot balm), pressing
the deceased abdomen while asking her to
push and after this amateur mechanism did
not yield desired result, they cut the
deceased three times to bring out the baby
and placed it somewhere unattended
to. First of all, I noticed that the baby was
left unattached for a long time while all
four nurses were attending to my wife,” he
said.
Semako said all through the period that the
midwives were battling to birth their baby, no
doctor was in the labor room to assist with the
delivery. He said after wasting much time
attending to his wife and at the same time
leaving his new born child unattended to, the
nurses proceeded to call the Indian doctor.
"During the period of the delivery, I did not
at anytime see the doctor; it was after the
delivery that one of the nurses went to call
the doctor. The doctor came in at about 6.15
p.m and told me to leave the labour room. I
left the labour room and stood outside the
door. As I stood there, I heard a noise as if
someone was being flogged inside. This noise
continued repeatedly. My fear grew as the
nurses began to rush up and down,
fidgeting. It was at this point I tried to get
one of the nurses to talk to me but she
wouldn’t. Twenty-five minutes after
delivery, I was told by one of the nurses
that the baby was all right, I went inside to
see my wife only to see her being massaged
all over her body with Aboniki balm. It
terrified me to see the frequency with which
they were shouting my wife’s name. She
used her last bit of energy to say that her
legs were hurting. Thirty-five minutes
later, I was told that my wife would need
blood because she was still bleeding
profusely. I immediately agreed to this. All
this while, I had not seen the baby. I heard
the doctor calling someone and asking for
blood. Shortly after this stinging and ugly
news I was informed that my wife was dead.
Subsequently, they called one pastor to pray
for the resurrection of my wife which
further exposed the incompetence,
negligence and ineptitude of the hospital’s
system. Due to the unprofessional cuttings
by incompetent nurses on my wife, the baby
suffered serious deep cuts on its back and
buttocks. This cuts on different sides of the
baby’s body further attest to the mutilation
done on his wife,” he said.
Semako Hunpe says 9 months after he was born,
the baby still has the scars he got while they were
trying to forcefully help his wife give birth. He
has dragged the doctor and the hospital before a
Lagos State High Court over alleged incompetence
and negligency. In a N500m lawsuit filed by his
counsel, Barrister Kayode Adaramoye, Mr Semako
Hunpe alleged that professional misconduct led to
the death of Mrs. Oluwasetemi Hunpe, his wife.
The hospital has however denied claims of
negligence. In a letter titled "“Demand for N500
million Damages,” and written by the hospital's
counsel, John Adanike, the hospital claims the
doctor carried out her duties in the best
professional manner throughout the time Mr
Semako's wife stayed in their hospital. The letter
in part reads
“Our client denies being negligent in any manner
or being guilty of any professional misconduct.
Consequently, our client denies liability to pay
damages in the sum of N500 million or any sum at
all,”
Dr Bharathi Jayaram has practised here in Nigeria
in the last 20 years.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
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