Kano govt reacts to death of pregnant woman in hospital over old notes

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

Kano state Ministry of Health has reacted to the allegations that a pregnant woman, Shemau Sani Rabiu died because her husband could not pay her medical bills with new notes.
Reports last week had alleged that the 32-year old deceased was left in pains for more than eight hours without attention from medical personnel on duty.
According to the reports, the deceased’s husband, Bello Ali Baffa alleged that she bled to death while he was struggling to settle medical bills at the pharmacy through transfer.
The reports firther alleged that the husband revealed how he spent hours waiting for the cashier to confirm payment alert of N8,528 for drug because he did not have the new naira notes and that the hospital had allegedly stopped receiving the old currency.
However, reacting to the allegations at a press briefing on Monday, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa described the reports as a lie.
According to him, the deceased was given maximum attention when she was brought to the hospital but unfortunately died.
The commissioner stressed that the deceased was brought to the hospital unconcisous on February 5, with a complain of PV bleeding and cessation of fetal movement.
Dr Tsanyawa added that the deceased was attended to by the doctor on call, who gave her all the necessary first aid, including “setting of IV Lines, taking of Blood Samples for grouping and crossmatching in preparation for blood transfusion, took urine sample and did a bedside analysis where he confirmed presence of protein in the urin.”
“He later did the detailed clinical examinations where he found her to have mild anaemia, a BP of 150/90mmhg with tachycardia and marked abdominal pain with absent of fetal heart sound,” he said.
The commissioner emphasized that after the diagnosis, the doctor on called tried his best, with the support of other doctors but the deceased eventually have up.
He therefore debunked the media reports that she died for failure of her husband to pay new naira notes for drugs.
He also stated that it is the policy of the state government to give priority to the patients at the emergency level without requesting any amount of money.
“The policy of the government on management of all medical emergencies is clearly known and practice by all the staffs especially those working in the accident and emergencies, emergencies Units and Labor rooms, thaf first aid management must be instituted to save life before any formality, “ he said.