Ogun doctor detains grieving mother after death of newborn twins

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A medical doctor and owner of Martins
Hospital in Sagamu, Ogun State, Dr Babatunde
Onamusi - Martins , has been accused of
detaining a woman that was just delivered of
babies , identified only as Aina , in his facility
for three months over hospital bills .
PUNCH Metro learnt that 24 - year - old Aina had
been pregnant with twins and was due for
delivery on April 7 , when her husband , Ola , a
factory worker , rushed her to a church .
She was said to have developed complication
after being delivered of the first baby boy ,
who died shortly after birth .
She was taken to Martins Hospital in GRA ,
Sabo, Sagamu, where the second baby boy was
delivered.
The child died as well .
The proprietor of the hospital was alleged to
have insisted on the payment of over N 300 , 000
before releasing the victim.
Aina ’ s husband , Ola, told our correspondent
that he could not explain how the medical bills
accumulated to N 300, 000 .
He said , “ I am engaged to my woman , though
we are not yet fully married. When she was
due for delivery, we decided to take her to a
church beside our house, where pregnant
women in our area are usually delivered of
babies .
“ The first baby came out , but died some
minutes after . There was a complication when
the second child was about to be delivered and
I called my wife ’ s mother , who advised that
we take her to a hospital .
“ The doctor asked for a deposit of N 150, 000,
which we could not raise. He later summed up
our bills and said we were owing him over
N 300, 000.
“ We first raised an initial sum of N 130 , 000
and later added N 70 , 000 to make the money
N 200, 000. When we invited a radio presenter
to the hospital and the issue started gaining
attention on the social media , he decided to
give us a N 65 , 000 discount .
“ I cannot explain how we accumulated up to
N 300, 000 because apart from the money we
paid , we also gave him N 12 , 000 on three
occasions for the three pints of blood he
bought for us. We bought plasters , methylated
spirits, and some other things that were
unavailable at the hospital . ”
Ola said the poor condition of his family
forced his wife to use a church for delivery,
adding that Martins Hospital was no better .
He described the hospital environment as
unsanitary , saying he wanted to take his wife
from there a day after she was delivered of the
twin.
However, the owner of the hospital described
the allegations as false , saying he saved Aina
from death after she was rushed to his
hospital .
Onamusi - Martins said he never detained the
patient , adding that she was always moving
freely .
He said, “ The girl was pregnant with twins
and was taken to a church where they forced
the first child out and killed him. I was asleep
when my nurses came to wake me up late at
night that we had an emergency .
“ I accepted her , despite the fact that she was
not registered with my hospital . She was
smelly and had a rope tied around her private
parts. They begged me to assist the family.
When the begging was much , I decided to run
a scan on her and I saw that the second baby
was still breathing .
“ I asked them to deposit N 200 , 000, but they
said they didn ’ t have the money and they
would come with it the next day. I decided to
help because of the innocent baby . We
resuscitated the woman and brought out the
child , which later died .
“ By 4 am of the following day , she had become
stable and when I asked for their deposit , they
started rambling that they didn ’ t have the
money . ”
The doctor explained that Aina ’ s condition
later worsened , which led to a surgical
operation .
He said after successfully managing the
situation , it was discovered that she was in
dire need of blood.
“ I had to go to the Olabisi Onabanjo University
Teaching Hospital to look for blood for her . I
did that because I didn ’ t want to infect
anybody with HIV by error . It was a Sunday
and it was a personal sacrifice . What did I do
wrong ? After that, I saw that she was oozing
pus from her private parts. We used powerful
drugs to save her life . The hospital
environment stank and we had to sanitise the
place .
“ At the end of the day , we took her back to the
theatre to close her up when there were no
more dirt in her . She could have also had
Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF ) , but we stopped that
from happening . They had spent over two
months at the hospital and we asked them to
deposit N 200 , 000, but they refused . They paid
N 130, 000. When we did the whole bill , the
husband brought another N 70 , 0000 , making it
N 200, 000, out of a bill of over N 360 , 000”
He said the family still owed his hospital
N 103, 000 after he gave them a discount of
N 65 , 000.
The doctor said he regretted helping the
family, saying he was being harassed by some
unknown persons who got his telephone
number on the social media .