The parents of a three-month-old baby who died after a medical doctor at the pediatric ward, Central Hospital in Benin city, Edo state, allegedly administered a wrong dose of injection on their child on July 7, have cried out for justice.
The mother of the deceased baby, Angela Osaigbovo, told ITV news that the doctor was initially warned not to give her baby an injection but that later in the night, the same doctor came back with a syringe to administer the injection to her ailing child.
The distraught mum who spoke Pidgin English said on his return in the night, the doctor demanded that the injection which was in the fridge be given to him. She said as the doctor was administering the injection, her baby began to scream. She said she tapped the doctor on his hand and asked him to stop as her baby was screaming.
”I said stop, stop. Don’t give my child the injection again. The matron was sitting far from where we were. As he admistered the injection again, the child stopped breathing”
Solomon Osaigbovo, father of the deceased alleged that after the incident happened, they were offered N50, 000 as compensation and asked not to go to the police station to report the matter. According to him, the hospital staff told him that there is nowhere they can carry the case to as this is a government-to-government facility matter and nothing will come out of it.
”They said we should just collect the money and go bury our child. We said no that we must report the matter to the station”
The sister of Mr. Osaigbovo who also spoke, said the doctor gave her brother N16, 000 and said that ”what has happened has happened”.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the state police command, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said the matter is currently being investigated.
”The DPO swung into action with the operatives and on getting to the hospital, she was told that the medical doctor absconded. Efforts are in place to get the suspect arrested.”
