Clutching
a cellophane bag, Christopher Akhile (43), a father of three, has been
weighed down by the death of his wife , Elizabeth, and his inability to
bury her remains.
This is because the remains of the woman
who died in 2011 are being ‘detained’ at the mortuary of Irrua
Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo State.
Akhile, who together with his late wife
hail from Ugbegun, in Esan North East, Edo State, started the battle to
save her life in Lagos in 2011, when she took ill and was taken to
Plateau Hospital, on Agege Motor Road.
She was placed on admission for one month.
The battle to save his wife’s life,
however, ended at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, where she died on
August 2011. At this point, Akhile, a driver by profession, had
exhausted his finances and lost his job with a female senior naval
officer in Abuja.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH on his
predicament, Akhile said he remained in the village till January 2012,
before returning to Lagos to raise money for outstanding services
received at ISTH. Meanwhile, the bill continued to pile, with the daily
N1, 000 fee charged by the hospital mortuary unit, for keeping
Elizabeth’s remains.
Akhile, who said he paid N120, 000 at
ISTH, but was unable to carry on, is pleading that the hospital waive
their fee, to allow him bury his late wife.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the
widower said he wrote for a waiver in April 2012. But by May 2013, when
the bill had risen to over N500,000, the hospital’s authorities asked
him to defray part of the amount before they could look into the matter.
Akhile said, “She (wife) became ill in
2011, I took her to Plateau Hospital, Agege Motor Road in Lagos. I paid
N20, 000 and she became okay. This was after I paid for other charges
and later she was admitted for one month. After discharge, the sickness
came up again. I took her to LASUTH almost dead, after a day, they
referred us to General Hospital, Ile-Epo, where she was on admission for
about three weeks, after which we were referred to LUTH.
“In Ile-Epo, they listed some foods she
should eat and advised her to stay on fruits, unripe plantain and
vegetable and amala. The sickness they said could be diabetes, TB or
pneumonia, and that was why I came. When my money got exhausted, in my
two bank accounts, I took them (late wife and children) home, to
Ugbegun. I was working with a naval officer (woman), in Abuja, and by
this time, she said she had employed someone else.
“My sister-in-law took Elizabeth to
Irrua Specialist, after which they called me. I stayed with her running
here and there. At Irrua (hospital), for two weeks, she could not eat,
she could not drink, and was placed on oxygen. After, the doctor called
and said they would take her somewhere and I agreed. She came out and
everything appeared well; I even called Lagos, and my wife talked with
my neighbours.
“Later, the doctor said she needed blood
and by this time I was empty; all my money had run out. On August 31,
2011, because she was moaning, she vomited all over me and gave up. That
was the last. I remained in the village till January 2012, before I
returned to Lagos, to raise money.”
Akhile said he was able to defray part of the bill in 2011, but could no longer continue, while more bills piled.
He said, “Everyday, the mortuary bill is
N1, 000. I paid up to N120, 000 before I could no longer continue. On
April 2, 2012, I wrote a letter of waiver, in order for me to remove my
late wife’s body. They replied that I should pay N80, 000, failing which
I would not be allowed to remove the body.
I pleaded, but to no avail.
“The letter they wrote, I wanted to go
for it, so that I can use it as evidence when I meet those that will
assist me. But on the day I went, the hospital staff were on strike.”
When contacted about the development, on
Monday, the Chief Medical Director, ISTH, Prof. George Akpede, said he
would not comment on what he did not know about.
He said, “I cannot comment on what I don’t know about, visit the hospital and get details of these.”
A visit to Irrua was to highlight the
challenging situation in which the hospital might have found itself in,
particularly in Akhile’s case.
Speaking under the condition of
anonymity, an employee of the hospital explained the difficulty that
might result if people don’t come forward to claim the corpses of
departed relations before a given period.
He said it might be difficult for
management to write off debts incurred by such persons. He said the
issue of money or release of a corpse was not the exclusive preserve of
the hospital management. He further explained that the hospital reserved
the right to bury those long abandoned in the hospital mortuary.
He said, “There is a standing law that
if you don’t come for your deceased person in the mortuary for a given
period of time, we have the prerogative to come and assess and accord
such burial, because the mortuary facility will no longer be enough to
cater to the service of others in need of mortuary, hence we call the
local government to come and give them a mass burial.
“That is after our legal department must
have had clearance from the local government and the court. If he
(Akhile) has somebody there and he does not have fund, he should write
the hospital for a waiver.”
When told of efforts by the distraught
widower in that regard, the source said revenue issues were not for
management alone to decide.
He said, “All we do is being looked into by external auditors from the Federal Ministry of Health; they are revenue issues.”
PUNCH
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