Parents Blame Death Of 8-Year Old Daughter On Bayelsa Government Hospital

The Management of the Bayelsa State Government owned Diette-Koki Hospital in Yenagoa, has come under fire from the parents of an eight-year-old girl who died while in their care. The parents blame her death on what they call “negligence” on the part of medical personnel at the public hospital.

Responding to the allegations leveled against the hospital staff, the leadership of the hospital absolved the medical workers of complicity in the death of the 8-year-old girl named, Inato Sunday, in 2013.

The hospital officials said that the deceased died due to the administration of a strange concoction of local gin, and bitter leaf.

Dr. Solomon Sagbe, who is Director of Medical and Dental Services of the Hospital, further insisted that administration of the traditional blend of local gin and bitter leaf, during the administration of treatment by Doctors on duty was not a cause.

"It is not true that the actions of the doctors on duty led to the death of the girl. It was the administration of the strange concoction by the father of the deceased that resulted in serious stomach pain,” he said.

“The girl became unconscious after they became aware of the state of the girl, they (then) forced her to take a mixture of pap and palm oil," he added.

Dr. Sagbe said the deceased had two episodes of generalized tonic colonic seizures, each of which had lasted about five minutes.

("But) there was no prior history of fever or neck stiffness. Seizures were said to have occurred spontaneously in the morning of the same day, and shortly after, she was given a concoction of bitter leaf juice and local gin for stomach pains," Dr. Solomon Sagbe insisted.

The father of the deceased, Mr. Sunday Nyingasa, had in February accused the hospital management of negligence following the death of his daughter at the children and women hospital run by the Bayelsa state government.

According to the father, Inato Sunday was a primary school pupil, who was in good health before her death.

It is not clear if the parents of the girl will formally lodge a legal complaint against hospital officials in the case. But their anger and grief following the death of their daughter, and what may follow, cannot be discounted.

SAHARA REPORTERS