COVID-19 Fear : Doctors stood aloof, watched my wife​ die slowly at UNTH

ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria – Mr. Nwachukwu Alagbu, a middle aged man in his 40s from Anambra State is a very sad man. He has seen the worst no man ever wished to go through in a lifetime.

To put it bluntly, he is furious with medical doctors at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital UNTH, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, for their professional negligence, and acting at variance with the Hippocratic Oath, which medical doctors swore to uphold,  leading to the untimely death of his lovely wife, Mrs.Nkiru Alagbu.

Nwachukwu Alagbu only wished he studied medicine in school,his lovely wife would have been alive today.

According to him, the doctors on duty allowed his wife  who had developed a cardiovascular disorder shortly after birth a year ago to die  in his car by the mere conjecture that she could have been infected with the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

Alagbu who narrated his ordeal in the hands of UNTH doctors said the death of his wife, a mother of 4  was the most painful experience in his life.

He said  “Doctors at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu watched my wife die like a foul for a purported fear of COVID-19. My wife, Mrs Nkiru was a 35-year-old woman who developed cardiovascular disorder shortly after her last child more than a year ago. 

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Her medical condition had been waxing and waning, especially after every treatment. In January 2020, she developed the following symptoms, fever, breathlessness, chest pain, morbid weakness, and excessive sweating and loss of appetite. 

Her illness made her​ visit so many hospitals until on​ 14th April 2020 when she had to be referred to a diagnostic Clinic in Enugu for some investigations. Right there, the good-spirited Consultant in that Clinic promptly referred her to a cardiologist for immediate attention when he noticed her major health challenge was cardiovascular disease.

“For the avoidance of doubt, my wife and I had not traveled outside Enugu and Anambra States in the last five years. We have never come in contact with anyone diagnosed or suspected of having COVID-19. 

“Unfortunately, by the period we got to the private hospital in Enugu in the morning on 15-04-2020, we were directed to Enugu State University Teaching Hospital Parklane GRA, Enugu. At ESUTH Parklane, they informed us  that their hospital did not have a functional Trolley or wheelchair to wheel my wife to the ward and that the hospital wards were full without empty beds.

“In frustration, we immediately took her to UNTH, Ituku/ Ozalla. That was where the worst happened.  A doctor came and from a distance asked a few questions. Quickly, he concluded it was a case of COVID-19. 

“Me, my brother’s wife (her brother is a Consultant medical doctor), and a family friend who offered to accompany us to the hospital started crying because none of the medical personnel on duty in the hospital emergency cared to assist after she was tagged a COVID-19 case. 

“At this time my wife whispered into my ear, that I should not allow her to die. I saw my wife in pain and she kept telling me that she would not die. I cried my eyes out when the consultant cardiologist called UNTH, informing them to admit my wife for him. That he was coming to take over her treatment. They ignored him.

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“Within a short while, after the doctor made that COVID-19 proclamation, all the medical personnel disappeared. No one bothered to come close to her while she was lying in the car helpless. And after waiting for more than 30 minutes, I saw my brother’s wife ( the Consultant’s wife) crying uncontrollably, and handing her phone to a doctor so that the husband could explain the health situation of my wife to him. My brother later informed me what the doctor said. 

“He said that they had started making efforts to contact the COVID-19 medical team that would handle my wife. He told me that the doctor he spoke with on the phone was so rude and that the UNTH doctor started accusing him of threatening him after informing him that he had to make efforts to sustain the sick alive while they make their efforts at confirming or ruling out the COVID-19. All attempts made by my brother to convince them that my wife was not a COVID-19 case proved abortive.

“I have never felt so incapacitated like this since I was born some 40 years ago. I saw my wife die like a foul in a hospital, and the doctors turned their backs on her and worked away without pity or compassion in their faces and hearts. 

“When the situation became too hard for me to bear, I called this my brother who is a Medical Consultant in another institution to use his contacts and get the UNTH doctors to attend to my dying wife. To my most​ shock, no person in the Emergency section of the hospital listened to him. 

“I thought doctors enjoy some privileges when they introduce themselves to their colleagues with the hope of being assisted in situations requiring medical emergency. I was proved wrong when the UNTH staff did not care to listen to my Consultant brother who made some efforts on the phone at giving a medical history of my wife when it mattered most.

“They allowed my wife to die unattended to, all in the name of fear of COVID-19. Medical doctors watched my wife die like a soulless being. I thought it was a local movie playing when I could not get help from the Government Hospital, simply because the doctors felt my wife had COVID-19″.

Alagbu  also asked, “If indeed the case was a COVID-19 case, how come there were no efforts put in place for sample collection even after death, what measures did the hospital put in place to safeguard the mortuary staff? Why did it take the hospital hours to wear their PPE and attend to the patient?​ What is the hope of ordinary men in our Nigeria hospital today?​

“How come the whole fear of COVID-19 disappeared as soon as the patient died?​ I am heart-wrecked because my wife died leaving behind four children, the eldest is 11 years.

“This wicked doctor watched my wife die like a foul for a purported fear of COVID-19”, he said with tears welling down his cheeks. 

When contacted the chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the teaching hospital Dr. Val Ugwu said he was in a meeting and will get back to our reporter and he never did  even after several calls were put to him.