Lagos hospital detains mother over delivery fee despite Sanwo-Olu’s directive

Uthman Salami

Months after the Lagos State Government mandated all General Hospitals and Primary Health Centres in the state to provide free antenatal care and child delivery services to pregnant women, the management of Ajeromi General Hospital in the Ajegunle Area of Lagos State detained a woman identified as Elizabeth Davis, who lost her baby after premature delivery due to the inability to settle her medical bill amounting to N323,000.

PUNCH Healthwise reported that the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Olusegun Ogboye, had explained that the implementation of free antenatal care and child delivery services, which include caesarean sections, would help improve maternal and child health indices in Lagos.

According to him, “The governor recognised that the cost of antenatal care and child delivery services would add to the burden of fuel subsidy removal on the cost of living for expectant parents.

“This is why the governor announced the free medical intervention as part of the rolled-out measures to ease off the burden.

Meanwhile, Sanwo-Olu, during a media interview in February 2024, stated, “There is an arrangement for free delivery, including cesarean sections, at government hospitals,” adding that his administration “will also give a rebate on some particular drugs at our state government hospitals.”

However, this does not seem to be the case at Ajeromi General Hospital, where the infant’s remains and the mother are being held due to the family’s inability to clear about N323,000 in medical bills.

It was learnt that both Davis and her child’s remains were still detained by the hospital management as of Monday and Tuesday.

Speaking about the situation, Davis said, “I have been here since February 29, 2024. I gave birth in the hospital. It was premature. They put her in an incubator. They have been treating her since then. But I don’t know what happened when they suddenly told me on March 2, 2024, that she was having a fever.

“They came out straight to tell me that my baby wasn’t feeling fine and all. On March 3, they told me that my baby was very sick. I was even surprised, and I was asking them what went wrong. So, by 3 am, my baby had given up.

“So, since then, they have detained me. They said I have to pay over N353,000 before they can let me go. They didn’t allow us to take the remains of the child away for some days. But today (Monday, March 25, 2024), they called my husband to come and take the child.”

While seeking public intervention, Davis’s husband, Michael Bassey, said the hospital also denied him the right to take the corpse of the infant several weeks after she died inside the incubator because of the N323,000 medical bills.

He said, “My wife gave birth when her pregnancy was only seven months old. The child was taken into an incubator for weeks. Then, last Friday, we lost the baby. After we lost the baby, the hospital told me that before I could take the corpse, I should get a clearance of N323,000.

“So, I had to give them the only N50,000 that was on me. They said if I didn’t pay the money, they would not allow me to bury my daughter. And they still detained my wife at the hospital. But just this afternoon (Monday, March 25, 2024), they called me to come take my daughter’s corpse.”

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, stated that he would investigate the matter.

He, however, promised to investigate the matter after requesting the details of the hospital and the patient’s name via WhatsApp messages from our correspondent on Monday.

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