A senior consultant physician based in Kano State died after collapsing barely 15 minutes after arriving at a hospital in Kano State to attend to patients who had been waiting several hours for his evening clinic.
The incident occurred last Saturday at Arewa Surgery Hospital, Hotoro, Kano, where the doctor reportedly responded to a request to replace another consultant who was unavailable for scheduled appointments, reports Daily Trust.
The account was made public by Suleiman Harbo, an aide to the Jigawa State governor, who said he was among the patients’ relatives present when the tragedy unfolded.
Harbo explained that he had taken his elderly mother to the hospital at about 5 p.m. for an appointment with a consultant physician.
On arrival, hospital staff informed them that the doctor originally scheduled to attend to them would not be available and recommended the deceased simply identified as Dr. Ibrahim.
According to him, about six patients, most of them above 80 years old, waited for the physician, prompting him to contact the hospital reception to enquire about the delay.
He said the receptionist reached the doctor by telephone and informed him that elderly patients, including his mother, were waiting.
Dr. Ibrahim reportedly assured them he would come after observing the Maghrib prayer.
Harbo said the consultant arrived shortly afterwards but suddenly became dizzy immediately after stepping out of his vehicle.
He said fellow medical personnel rushed the physician to the hospital’s emergency unit, where doctors battled to revive him.
“Within 15 minutes, he was confirmed dead,” Harbo wrote, describing the incident as shocking and deeply painful.
He added that the development left both patients and medical personnel devastated.
“The painful irony was this: all the patients waiting to see him were above 80 years of age, while about five senior consultant doctors fought to save him, yet all of them broke down in tears,” he said.
Harbo recalled that his mother was initially unaware of the incident and asked whether the doctor had arrived.
Before he could respond, another patient reportedly informed her that the physician they had all been waiting to see had just died.
On hearing the news, Harbo said his mother immediately offered prayers for the deceased.
‘”Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un. So that was the doctor they rushed inside? May Allah have mercy on him. Let us just go home. I am already healed,’ she said.”
Harbo said he struggled to contain his emotions as he drove his mother home after the incident.
He also disclosed that those present during the doctor’s final moments said his last audible words were, “La ilaha illallah,” the Islamic declaration of faith.
Describing the loss as one that would remain with him for a long time, Harbo prayed for Allah to forgive the late physician’s shortcomings and grant him Al-Jannah Firdaus.
The cause of Dr. Ibrahim’s sudden collapse was not immediately known.
