By Stanley Onyekwere
There was no sufficient evidence to show that Olorunfemi died in Maitama District Hospital
Ms Greatness Olorunfemi, a victim of an unknown one-chance syndicate, had died before getting to Maitama District Hospital, in Abuja, according to a preliminary report of an independent panel of investigation constituted by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), following alleged negligence by medical personnel in the hospital.
Making this disclosure yesterday, Secretary, FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe, who noted that the cardinal objective of medical personnel was to save lives, however regretted that Olorunfemi’s painful death was due to insecurity in the FCT.
Fasawe, who spoke while receiving reports of the panel, tendered an unreserved apology to the victim’s family, as the body of their late daughter was not treated properly, adding that the profession’s ‘dignity in death’ principle is tended to handle dead bodies with dignity.
Recall that Olorunfemi, a victim of the ‘one-chance’ incident that occured on 26th September, 2023, was later pronounced dead by authorities of the hospital.
But, following media reports claiming that the victim died as a result of negligence by medical personnel in the hospital, FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike set up the investigative panel into circumstances surrounding her death, with a major term of reference to determine if she died in the hospital or was brought in dead.
Ealier, Chairman of the investigative panel, Prof. Mohammed Aminu Mohammed during presentation of the report, revealed that there was no sufficient evidence to show that Olorunfemi died in Maitama District Hospital.
Mohammed stressed that report which relied on CCTV footage obtained from the emergency centre of the hospital and witnesses did not indicate that there was any discussion between the medical personnel and the “good Samaritan”, meaning there was no demand for Police report.
He added that the report also shows that the victim was attended to within five seconds of been taken to the hospital.
The Chairman also picked holes in the claims that the victim was allowed to bleed to death, saying investigation revealed that there was a little stain on the victim’s 1 cream-colour dress, as well as in the vehicle that conveyed her to the hospital.
According to him, “if it was a case of bleeding to death, her dress would’ve been drenched with the blood as well as the vehicle which took her to Maitama hospital.”
