A middle-aged man, Mr. Sunday Samuel has accused the management of the Ondo State Trauma and Surgical Centre of killing his wife Mrs. Fola Samuel, who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.
According to Mr. Samuel, the operation was disrupted at intervals due to power outage, as the medical facility repeatedly switched between power supply and generator. He further opined that the hospital also failed to provide a standby oxygen cylinder before embarking on the surgery.
The late mother of four was taken to the theatre for surgery on Monday, 25 July, 2022.
Speaking on the incident, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Oluwole Ige, in a
statement denied such claims and said the surgery was indeed successful.
Dr Ige said, “She was a high-risk surgical patient and palliative surgery to remove the huge
mass of abnormal tissue growing in her breast was planned. She was quite unwell and had to be made fit to undergo surgery. The patient could barely walk on admission and with very limited clinical reserve. Efforts at making her strong enough to withstand the stress of surgery warranted the three weeks of admission before surgery. The surgery was successful but the patient, unfortunately, could not withstand the stress.”
He also noted that the hospital did not alternate between power supply and generator while the operation lasted.
“It was true that there was a power outage during the surgery, but the backup power supply was immediately restored. The hospital is equipped with multiple generators (diesel and petrol) being used as a backup. The issue of alternating between power supplies was not the cause of her death. The allegation about non-availability of oxygen during the surgery is false,” he added.
However, a source close to the family told pressmen that the hospital’s statement about the
unfortunate incident was merely medicine after death.
The source said, “There is nothing to gain in making false claims against them. Fola is no more and she has been buried; so that won’t bring her back to life. But that is the reality on the ground in the hospital. I hope this will make them do the needful to avoid another casualty.”
