Trinity Hospital, a private medical facility in Ughelli, Delta State has detained a 18 year old mother, Toyin Oluwagbemiga and her baby girl in the past five months over unpaid surgery bills.
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According to the report first published in Vanguard, the mother, Toyin Oluwagbemiga has appealed to the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori and other spirited individuals to come to her aid to pay the bills.
Trinity Hospital, a private medical facility whose principles is built on saving life first is in Ughelli, and run by Dr. Bryan, a simple and compassionate young man .
However, having been taken for granted severally, in order to recover their bills had no other choice but detained the patient after performing a surgery, (Caesarean section, CS) on her during child delivery.
Miss Toyin Oluwagbemiga, was put in the family way by one Joshua Cole, immediately after her Senior Secondary Certificate Examination at Ekuigbo Grammar School, but during delivery she had some complications which took her to the Ekuigbo Community Health Centre in Ughelli.
With her condition perceived critical, she was referred to the Ughelli Central Hospital, but her parents rather rushed her to Trinity Hospital, a private health facility in Ughelli.
The hospital located in the Akporigbe Area of Ughelli, in Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta state, received Toyin Oluwagbemiga on June 5, 2023, into her facility and treated her, but unfortunately, her parents absconded after the Caesarean section (CS).
When journalists visited the Hospital to confirm the incident which was brought to their notice by a good Samaritan, (name withheld) one Dr. Bryian narrated all that transpired and, contrary to what it was being peddled by the mother, referring to the Doctor and hospital as conscienceless, Dr. Bryian said, it was not as if he was heartless or being wicked, but as a result of past experiences.
He said one Toyin Joshua, (her card name) was transferred from the Ekuigbo Health Centre in Ughelli and brought to his Hospital unconscious by a man and woman and others who claimed to be her parents and relatives with a referral letter probably to the Ughelli Central Hospital.
“I didn’t want to attend to her because, she was already in a coma and I told them that the case was critical as she has convulsed twice and already having eclampsia, (a gynaecology term related to high blood pressure).
“I invited the mother and told her that with her condition, the placenta would need to be brought out at the moment, but also explained to her that if she was not handled carefully, she might just die in the theatre. I told the parents how much we would charge if she was to be handled at the hospital.
He noted that based on his policy and how he was trained during his residency at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital UBTH, he had to ensure he saved her life by doing the needful in the first 24 hours, and carried out the operation on her without her relatives depositing a dime.
Dr. Bryian who probably have experienced such cases in the past, where people had taken advantage of his simplicity, noted that it was so disappointing and surprising to him after God helped all of us to bring the girl back to life and delivered her of the baby through the CS, the people that brought her weeping profusely and begging that day, absconded because the girl in question is already well.
“She went into coma and even the baby too was flat, but we have to use oxygen and others to revived both mother and baby because their respiration was gone”
The soft spoken Dr. Bryan visibly upset with so many things he has heard from people who are not abreast with what transpired, said, ” I do not run a charity organization here. I pay bills and we do buy all the items, oxygen, drugs, diesel and pay for everything we use in treating patients, so why should they be treating me this way, he asked.”
Asked if Toyin’s husband has put a call through to him, he said he has not set eyes on any of them except the first day Toyin was brought and that the only money deposited out of the bills after the surgery was just about Sixty thousand naira (M60,000).
Not happy with the attitude of the girl’s mother who goes about saying wrong things about the hospital, he decided to keep Toyin until the balance bill of N537, 800 (Five Hundred and Thirty-Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred Naira) is cleared.
Meanwhile, the man who put Toyin in a family way, on seeing her condition, allegedly denied the ownership of the pregnancy, and his family members too has also abandoned Toyin.
The detained patient Toyin Oluwagbemiga who looks so frail, weak and carrying her five months old baby at the hospital lobby at the top floor, told journalists that there is no way she could have ever blamed the Doctor as he has really tried in bringing her and her baby back to life.
“The man really tried for us. Even without any deposit, he commenced treatment because I was brought in unconscious”.
“The Doctor is a very good man. He has tried for me and my baby, but the truth is that my parents don’t have money, that is why they abandoned me here .”
Miss. Toyin a native of Ibadan town in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State and a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, broke down in tears as she narrates her ordeal.
Asked about her supposed father of the child, whom she gave his name as Mr. Joshua Cole, a native of Ekuigbo, she said in a pathetic voice that he is denying the baby’s paternity, but confidently insisted that she never dated any other man except him.
“When I was pregnant, all through the period, he used to come to our house, and we were relating very well until the day I started convulsing and went into coma, everything just changed.”
She said Joshua was earlier arrested by her family when she was in coma, but said she didn’t know how the matter was resolved as she was in coma all through the period, and could not ascertain why he is denying the paternity of the child.
Toyin lamented that she has seen real suffering in the past four to five months as she often goes hungry for days. She disclosed that she lives on gifts and charity given to her by patients and visitors coming to the hospital.
“Both the child pampers, baby food is given to me by either patients or those who came to visit their people, and most of the time I wake and sleep in hunger.”
She however appealed to the Delta State Government, other spirited individuals, churches and well meaning Nigerians to come to her aid to pay her bills so she could regain her freedom.
She pleaded with the Delta State government and Nigerians to help her pay the bill of N537,800 (Five Hundred, Thirty Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred Naira) so that she and the innocent baby can regain their freedom.
For support, the Trinity Hospital is located at Akporigbe Street, Ughelli, Delta State.
