Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Sunday, took an unscheduled visit to Island Maternity Hospital on the Lagos Island, catching the medical personnel unaware.
At 6:35pm, the Governor walked quietly into the hospital’s maternity ward where two expectant mothers were being examined.
One of them, Odeyemi Omowunmi, is heavily pregnant but she is not yet due for delivery. The 37-year-old expectant mother was compelled to take admission weeks ahead of her scheduled delivery.
Odeyemi’s forced hospitalisation was as a result of her unstable blood pressure — the condition that led to two previous miscarriages. In order not to lose the pregnancy, doctors advised Odeyemi be placed under constant observation until she is due for childbirth.
Who bears the cost for her prolonged admission at the hospital?
The care is free of charge. The medical expenses are completely covered under the health palliative scheme declared by Governor Sanwo-Olu across the Lagos State-owned General Hospitals.
The health scheme is part of the relief measures rolled out by the State Government to cushion the hardship being faced by residents as a result of fuel subsidy removal.
The health palliative covers the cost of normal pregnancy delivery, Caesarean section and antenatal care done in the State-owned hospitals.
Sanwo-Olu was at the Island Maternity Hospital to monitor compliance of the State’s medical staff.
In a chat with the Governor, Odeyemi said: “My husband and I live in Abule Egba, where I started antenatal care at a private clinic. I was seven and half months into my pregnancy when they discovered that my blood pressure was too high. My husband feared that I might lose the pregnancy again, having had two successive miscarriages.
“We were referred to Island Maternity Hospital for advanced medical examination when doctors told me I must be admitted for continued observation. My husband did not want me admitted initially because of the cost. But we were told the care is completely free. We didn’t believe it until I started getting treatment without anyone asking us to pay a dime.”
Since the free medical services commenced on the first day of August, hundreds of pregnant women have benefited from the free delivery and antenatal care across the Lagos-owned hospitals.
Sanwo-Olu was conducted around the maternity ward by the Chief Matron in Charge, Akinsola Dorcas.
The Governor moved to Lagos Island Hospital, Odan, where he personally took an audit of facilities in the 10-storey Doctor’s Quarters in which a house officer recently died from injuries in an elevator accident.
The unscheduled visit by the governor is coming about two weeks after the unfortunate incident happened.
According to the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Gboyega Akosile, in a statement on Monday, Sanwo-Olu during his visit on Sunday evening, conducted on-the-spot assessment of apartments, stores, and power supply system in the quarters.
He was led by representative of the House Officers, Dr. Segun Ogunlana.
“I need to come and see things for myself to know where our intervention is specifically and generally needed,” Sanwo-Olu was quoted as saying.
It would be recalled that the governor had ordered immediate investigation to ascertain the cause of the failure of the elevator, and expressed his commitment to ensuring that the investigation would be conducted with utmost transparency and fairness.
Based on the initial findings of an investigative panel set up by the government to find out the cause of the elevator accident, the facility managers of the hospital have been sacked and blacklisted.
Also, the general manager of Lagos State Infrastructure and Asset Management Agency has immediately proceeded on suspension, while the operations and line of reporting of the facility managers have been restructured to involve the hospital management directly.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Olumide Sogunle, who disclosed this in a statement on August 6, also informed that the installation and maintenance contractors had been handed over to the police for further investigation and likely prosecution if they were found culpable.
“The police will also investigate anyone else that might have been found to be negligent
“Engineers are working to unravel why all the safety devices of the elevator failed at the same time
“All our staff are fully insured. We have informed our life insurance providers about this incident.
“The Lagos Safety Commission has been directed to immediately carry out an audit of all elevators in public offices. This is besides the usual safety arrangements that have always existed,” Sogunle stated.
