One of the survivors of the 21-storey building that collapsed last week in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State has appealed to the Lagos State government to foot his medical bills.
Jeremiah Samson, who is currently receiving medical treatment at the Falomo Police Hospital, said on Monday that government officials had not come to visit him.
Mr Samson and five other survivors were among those who were on-site when the building crumbled.
Corroborating Mr Samson’s words, a hospital official told this reporter that the patient’s bill, which is N29,600, has not been paid since he was brought to the hospital.
The official called for the intervention of Mr Samson’s family and the government regarding the medical bill. She also said that nobody has come to visit the patient since he was hospitalised.
But Mr Samson said his aunty who lives in Lagos came briefly to see him. He noted that many of his relatives are not aware that he had traveled to Lagos to look for work.
During his visit to some of the rescued victims of the incident, Obafemi Hamzat, the deputy governor, assured that the government would take “full responsibility for the treatment and medical bills of rescued victims of the Ikoyi building collapse,” a statement signed by the director of public affairs for the health ministry, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, dated November 2, stated.
The Deputy Governor visited the hospital in the company of the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Idris Salako and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Abiola Kosegbe.
Contacted, the commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotosho, said the “bill has not been given to the Lagos state government.”
He also said that the government is financially capable to bear the cost of the medical bills of survivors.
So far, the number of dead bodies recovered from the rubble of the high-rise building which collapsed last week in Ikoyi, Lagos, has reached 44 with 15 survivors.
