“My brother is 37 years old. Did you know how long he has been struggling? He is my parents’ only son. We can’t sleep. This incident could have been avoided but no, you guys chose to take his life.”
Another family member, Sarah Ameachi, who was part of the protest, narrated her own bitter experience.
Ameachi said she was left in her pool of blood in the labour room without any attention, reports The Nation.
She said: “They left me in the labour room, I was bleeding, nobody cared for me. There were supposed to be three nurses attending to me. Unfortunately, one left me to bleed. After I gave birth, I told them that I was going to report, they told me that I should thank God that I am alive.
“So after that incident, I went back with my son. Today, it’s my brother’s turn, who they did not touch. They did not even look at him. They referred him to Jabi at least they could’ve done something or checked what was wrong with him even if you don’t have the equipment.”
The protesting family wants the hospital to be shut down within the next 72 hours.
Mr. Innocent Echi, an in-law to the late Dike, who issued the 72hours ultimatum, said: “What really happened was that on the 25 April my in-law Chiahoziem Dike had an asthmatic attack as at 4am and he was rushed down to the hospital.
“He stayed opposite star view, meaning that from there to the hospital is one or two minutes drive. So the family and friends took him to the nearest hospital, which is the Federal Staff Hospital.
“When they brought him, they refused to open the gate. After so much pressure, they opened it and they took him in.
“The doctors just looked at him and said they couldn’t handle the case and asked them to take him to the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi. On reaching there, they told us that he was dead.
“Our anger is that Federal Staff Hospital could have given him first aid. He wouldn’t have given up.
“We had them on record when they were talking carelessly. It had me question whether they graduated from medical college and who issued them licences.
“We are demanding justice for Nigeria so far; not just him. We are asking the Minister of Health and Minister of FCT and Hospital management board to look into it.
“We intend to write petition to the necessary authorities. This matter needs to be investigated. We need justice,” Echi said.
He added: “We brought him because he couldn’t breathe properly but the hospital failed to attend to him and let our brother die. They referred us to a far hospital and let him die like that.”
The Chief Medical Director, Federal Staff Hospital, Gwarimpa, Dr. Adewumi however said he was never aware of the cases mentioned by the protesters, describing the death of Dike as unfortunate.
He however pleaded with the aggrieved protesters, promising to look into the matter.
He said: “I am not aware of all these. I understand. I know what you are feeling.
“This is the first case I am witnessing. I’m going to find out and get the nurses and doctors involved and get justice for you.
“We are going to investigate. Please calm down. I am sorry for all that has happened. I am going to look into it and all that happened that day.
“It’s unfortunate it happened. Like I said, we need to demand justice for that. So I need to know what happened.”
