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By: Manoah Kikekon
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| Dr. Olutunde Bakare and Daniel Chibogu |
Dr. Olutunde Bakare, the managing director of Badagry General Hospital, has said the relatives of Daniel Chibogu chose to pay for private ambulance and that government ambulances have always been free.
Dr. Bakare disclosed this to News Peddlers in an interview in his office on Thursday, where he said the information shared by the relatives of Daniel was false.
A video that went viral was first shared by Yinka TNT, a social media influencer, where the friends of Daniel Chibogu said the hospital has refused to provide ambulance and had requested money from them to have access to an ambulance in a government hospital, which was earlier reported by News Peddlers.
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The M.D. said, "The young man is Daniel Chibogu, a 22-year-old who was first admitted to the Rock of Ages hospital at Opic Estate Agbara, and was referred to general hospital, Igando, but they chose to come to Badagry for reasons best known to them.
"When they got here, his health situation was very poor. A doctor had said he should be taken to the hospital he was referred to, but I thought he may not make it there, which people would have blamed me for.
"He was admitted, and treatment was halted immediately. As part of our emergency arrangement, if we have an emergency case here, everything you'll need for the first 24 hours will be given to you free. The idea is that when we save lives first, everything else will be addressed.
"The young man was treated from that Wednesday when he came to Friday, he was already recovering, but for that period, he had friends that came in large numbers, refusing to obey the hospital rules of the visiting time. In government hospital, the visiting time is 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. every day, but these people came as early as 8 a.m. in large numbers, overwhelming the staff and even going further to threaten the staff, threatening to burn down the hospital. When we told them not to enter because it's not the visiting time, they said nobody could stop them from entering.
But due to the fact that he's improving, I believe by Monday he would have been much better, possibly for him to be discharged, because we've managed several of such cases in the past.
Another group of friends came on Saturday, insisting that they wanted to take their friend Daniel Chibogu away, that the hospital was not taking proper care of him. I initially restricted the referral, but the doctor in charge advised that I refer them to avoid further chaos.
"In time past, people would say they came to government hospital, and there were no ambulances or drugs, so government has expanded its scope in government hospitals now that we have private pharmacies, ambulance, and mortuaries within the general hospital, which is known as a public-private partnership (PPP).
"Now we have the government ambulance, and there's also a newer ambulance, which is a private ambulance that comes with a fee. For the government ambulance, it's free to use it, but Daniel's friends insisted that they wanted the newer ambulance, which has air conditioning, oxygen, and a private nurse, which they had to pay for.
"The oxygen that was given to them was in perfect condition before they left the hospital. Anyone that used Agbara Road on Friday and Saturday will testify that there was long traffic on that road on Saturday, where they stayed for hours, and another traffic at Egbeda, which also took their time, but Daniel got to LASUTH safely. Even when they got there, there wasn't bed space. i had to call LASUTH to secure a bed space for them," he said.
The doctor added that the hospital had attended to Daniel Chibogu despite the fact that he doesn't have health insurance, which is why they have to pay for some services. He advised all Lagos State residents to register for Lagos State Health Insurance (ILERA EKO) to gain access to proper free medical care.