When pregnant women protested against hospital

Recently, pregnant women and nursing mothers protested against the services rendered to them by the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, University Teaching Hospital, Awka.  The protest took the management of the hospital named after the revered Biafran warlord and located at the heart of the state capital by surprise. However, Daily Trust findings revealed that a myriad […]

Recently, pregnant women and nursing mothers protested against the services rendered to them by the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, University Teaching Hospital, Awka. 

The protest took the management of the hospital named after the revered Biafran warlord and located at the heart of the state capital by surprise.

However, Daily Trust findings revealed that a myriad of challenges faced by the pregnant women and infants at the hospital culminated in the ‘emergency’ protest.

A pregnant woman told our correspondent that trouble started when pregnant women who came for antenatal at the hospital were asked to pay the sum of N1000 each before they could see a doctor on duty, instead of the N300 they usually paid. 

“The situation became chaotic when the pregnant women who came for antenatal protested the N700 hike in the consultation fee,” a source at the hospital said.

Also the neonatal section of the post natal ward of the hospital, suffers from poor ventilation because of poor electricity supply to the hospital. New born infants are always crying because of the heat and stuffiness in the ward.

Mothers and visitors alike often resort to improvised hand fans as alternative to the electric fans.

Narrating their ordeal, when this reporter visited the place, the visibly angry nursing mothers, expressed disappointment over the untold hardships they were subjected to. They also blamed the government for not ensuring regular power supply to a public hospital of that status.

One of them, who craved anonymity, said their  experience was worse at night as the babies would cry for hours non-stop from heat and mosquito bites.

“The sanitary condition in the hospital is very poor. The toilets in the neonatal ward are so dirty that most of us are reluctant to use them for fear of infections” she added.

Another nursing mother, Jane Okafor (Not real names) said that, the most annoying part of it all was that , they were still charged exorbitant bills in spite of the poor services rendered to them.

Okafor  who said she delivered through caesarian section said she was discharged since May but was being detained because of her inability to pay the N146,000 bill she owes the hospital. 

“The hospital management also refused to circumcise my baby, saying I must first make a deposit of N50,000,” she said.

Another mother, who simply identified herself as Mama Chika, accused the hospital management of not disclosing the details of hospital bills to their patients.

The Chief Medical Director of the Hospital Dr. Lawrence Ikeakor, while addressing the protesters, had appealed to them to exercise more patience, promising to look into the matter.

On the poor power supply, Ikeakor said that the management of the hospital spends huge sums of money in powering generating sets in each ward.

He said that issues concerning exorbitant hospital bills would be reviewed at the management meeting, and cautioned against polarizing the situation.

Meanwhile, the state House of Assembly has called for urgent rehabilitation and upgrade of all general hospitals in the state to meet the needs of the people.

The house, through a motion sponsored by the member representing Anambra East constituency, Obinna Emeneka, urged the executive arm of government to direct the Commissioner for Health, Dr Joe Akabuike, to urgently rehabilitate and upgrade, in particular Nando General Hospital in view of the fact that it serves as the best alternative hospital for the community and its residents.