A patient that was on life support at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital in Kwara State, has been confirmed dead after some striking health workers turned off the ventilator.
The friend of Olusola Olagunju, Ezekiel Adewole, confirmed the incident and disclosed that the incident took place recently. Adewole made it known that his friend died before he was taken to another hospital for medical attention.
He said: “He was referred to UITH, Ilorin for treatment. He has been undergoing this treatment for a while. He had difficulty in breathing, that is the only issue he had.
“He was okay, very active online. He was always on online – WhatsApp, Twitter and all others. The only thing is that he could not talk frequently on phone.
“He was using the support of oxygen. On Tuesday, we heard that the UITH went on strike. On that fateful day, they switched off their light.
“This guy was living on oxygen, electric oxygen. Immediately they switched off their light, he could not use the oxygen any longer and that was how his system collapsed.
“In the process of taking him to another hospital, he gave up. His family also sought the assistance of an ambulance, but they were denied because the drivers were also on strike.”
According to Channels Television, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) at the hospital expressed its sadness with the death of the patient.
The Chairman of NARD, Lanre Oloshunde added that as medical practitioners, patients owe them the respect in the course of performing their duties.
Oloshunde said: “We have suspended the strike. The strike was informed from a security situation that happened at the hospital in which one of our doctors was assaulted on duty.
“Since then, the management of the hospital has been able to respond with some security measures. At least to some extent, that has guaranteed the safety of our members being able to work.
“We heard that our security was not guaranteed then, that is why we had to go on strike. Thankfully, there has been some security improvements so far in this regard.”
