Family of patient that disappears from hospital, stages protest

Family members of 40-year-old Mrs. Ajarat Muritala, who disappeared from a hospital ward at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State, yesterday said they would stage a peaceful protest to the hospital today.

The brother-in-law of the missing woman, Barrister Taofeek Muritala said he couldn’t fathom how a very frail woman, who was already booked for surgery, could just disappear.

Taofeek said he wasn’t happy with the manner the Shagamu Police Station were handling the investigation.

Speaking with New Telegraph yesterday, Taofeek said: “I was with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), in charge of Shagamu Police Station, yesterday. The police have not rearrested the nurses. They released the nurses initially on the instruction of the CMD; they said they gave the nurses till last Thursday to produce the woman, but now the DPO is saying the police have given the nurses and hospital till Monday (tomorrow) again. So the Police are just going back and forth. I suspected there's foul play in handling of the matter. I have told the people to stage a peaceful protest to the Hospital tomorrow so that they'll know we've not forgotten it.”

Ajarat was admitted into the hospital on Tuesday and on Wednesday, disappeared mysteriously from the OOUTH. The mother of four, who was said to have been admitted at the hospital for a heart-related problem, allegedly disappeared before surgery could be carried out.
The patient was due for heart surgery on Tuesday. Taofeek said the hospital management had asked the family to provide N1.5 million for the surgery.
According to him, the family was making efforts towards raising the money when they discovered that she had disappeared.
The incident has since generated controversy as the family and hospital authorities continued to trade blames. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, said the case was that of ‘abscondment’ and not disappearance. Ipaye claimed that the family was trying to play smart on the hospital management.
He said relevant security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS), had been informed about the incident.
According to him, the patient was admitted into the Accident and Emergency ward of the hospital and had been stabilised before the incident.
The commissioner insisted that the hospital could not have asked the family to pay N1.5million for the surgery.
He said the patient would only be requested to pay admission fee, which he noted, was not up to N10, 000. He explained that around 1:30pm on Wednesday, the patient said she wanted to go to the bathroom while some of her family members were present.
Ipaye said: “At 2: pm when the nurses could not see her, they reported the matter to the head of the nurses. They went outside and did not see the woman and the family members. Those who know the woman told the management that the patient had psychiatric problem and was not brought to the hospital by her husband. We learnt that she was brought to the hospital by an Alfa (Muslim cleric). They said her husband was at Odogbolu and the patient had been seen at the area. It is a case of abscondment and the government has begun moves to investigate the issue. The DSS is aware of the matter; I have also asked them to look for the husband.”