The death of Samuel Okuneye, a student at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, has sparked a controversy between his family and the management of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The family alleges that Samuel’s death was due to gross negligence and complicity by the hospital staff. According to his sister, Olubukola Okuneye, Samuel was referred to the FMC due to high blood pressure and a suspected infection, but faced significant delays in admission due to a bed shortage.

Despite his critical condition, he was forced to wait for hours before being admitted.

Furthermore, his condition worsened when a vital nutrient drip was abruptly removed in the middle of the night on April 23, 2024, and he was left in the care of inexperienced trainees without a doctor present.

The family claims that the hospital’s negligence and lack of proper care ultimately led to Samuel’s death.

She narrated, “The death of my brother has been the most tragic thing I have ever experienced. I have witnessed the death of my grandparents, but the death of my blood, the only boy my parents had, has been devastating. He was the last born, the baby of the house. This is too difficult for me to say.

“Samuel happens to be a 300-level statistics student of FUNAAB. He is 20 years old and was meant to clock 21 by this September.

“When he fell sick, he was taken to the school clinic and was diagnosed with high blood pressure and infection. The school clinic told us that my brother would need oxygen to regulate his breathing, which they don’t have. That was why they transferred him to FMC, Abeokuta. We were contacted and rushed down.

“It was a Monday and we had to wait when we got to FMC with the school ambulance. We were told that there was no bed in the emergency ward. Someone who needs oxygen to stay alive couldn’t get urgent medical intervention.

“We waited for several hours trying to get a bed space. It was five hours later they were able to place my brother on an emergency bed. We learnt someone died and was moved out before my brother could get a bed space at the emergency unit.

“We thought that they would monitor him closely since he was on oxygen at the emergency unit but they transferred him to a normal ward on Tuesday evening. At the ward, the first person who checked his blood pressure was a male school of nursing student. While trying to locate a vein for IV fluid, the student gave him a cut, and my dad complained and he apologised claiming it was a mistake.

“My parents were with him all through, but they had to stay outside because relatives are not allowed to sleep with patients inside the hospital. My mom said she just woke up in the middle of the night around 1 am and just peeped through the window only to discover my brother was breathing heavily.

“My mom said she was seeing nursing students attending to my brother and when she ran into the ward, she discovered that the drip, which was the only thing giving my brother energy had been removed.  She asked who removed the drip and none of the nursing students could give her an answer.”

She stated, “My mom said despite being hysterical and shouting, the senior nurses just sat down, looking unbothered, and at a point told her to allow the students on training to attend to my brother.

“Because the drip was not there again, my brother started shouting that he was thirsty and hungry, but there was little or nothing students who were still under training could do to salvage the situation.

“My mother said the moment she wanted to give him water, my brother fell back, and that was it.

Olubukola said when her brother became unconscious; the nursing students could not carry out CPR on him or do anything significant to resuscitate him.

“They were just confused and unable to do anything,” she alleged, “It was my mother’s agonising cry that made the senior nurses stand up and they couldn’t do anything because it was already late.

“This is serious negligence because they have destroyed many lives and the future of the younger generation. How can Nigeria grow when they kill the future of Nigeria? How can school of nursing students be attending to someone placed on oxygen?” she questioned.

Olubukola additionally claimed that the two doctors who treated her brother the previous night were absent during the emergency, and their whereabouts were unknown.

She, a journalist herself, demanded a comprehensive investigation into the incident and urged the authorities to take necessary steps to prevent similar tragic incidents from occurring in the future, ensuring that such negligence and inadequacies are addressed to protect patients’ lives.

She noted, “Why would they allow a school of nursing students to attend to such patients? According to the Federal Health Syllabus, school of nursing students are still in school and should not be assigned critical tasks. Are they supposed to be on the night shift? What is the duty of the school of nursing students in such a big facility?

“FMC killed my brother and it is more painful because I had written different positive stories about the hospital and I didn’t know that all they claimed to have done was untrue.

“My mom said the doctors that did ward check around 10 pm were nowhere to be found when the incident happened. Where were the doctors? They could not be found at the time of the emergency.

“My brother died because the school of nursing students probably removed the drip my brother was taking.

“My brother was drained because the drip, his only energy source, was removed. He was dehydrated and there was no experienced nurse or doctor on the ground to attend to him at the point of need.

“The nursing students are still learning and are not yet professionals. How can you collect salary when you are not on duty? Where were the doctors? Why would nursing students be the ones administering drips and injections to people?

“Something has to be done or we would continue to have cases of avoidable deaths like this.”

In response, the hospital management claimed that Samuel received optimal medical care before his death.

According to Segun Orisajo, the Head of Public Relations & Information, Samuel was brought to the hospital in a critical condition after being ill for over two weeks.

Orisajo attributed Samuel’s condition to untreated malaria, which contributed to his death, and stated that he developed Acute Chest Syndrome and other complications that couldn’t be reversed despite all efforts.

He emphasized that the medical team, including nurses, attempted to resuscitate Samuel, including switching from an oxygen tube to an oxygen face mask to increase oxygen supply to his lungs.

The hospital’s statement defended the care provided, stating that the medical team did their best to save Samuel’s life.

The statement read, “He presented at FMC, Abeokuta on 22nd April 2024 at around 11:25 pm with the complaint of waist pain about 12 hours before presentation.

“He was said to have been in and out of the school clinic for about two weeks before referral with a history of fever described as high grade and intermittent initially but later became constant. The patient also complained of headache which was relieved by using Diclofenac.

“The patient was a known HBSS who never used our facility before with no known HBSS history, was not regular on clinic follow-up at the school clinic, was not on routine medications and had no idea of his stable PCV.

“At the school clinic, he was given intravenous fluids and medications whose names could not be ascertained.

“On admission at our facility, the vital signs were: RR – 20c/m, BP – 135/70mmHg, PR – 96b/m and SPO2 – 94%.

“The attending Casualty Officer made an assessment of Vaso Occlusive Crisis secondary to malaria/sepsis in a known HBSS was made. Oxygen therapy was commenced, IV access was secured, and IVF N/saline commenced.

“The prescribed analgesics (Diclofenac, Acupan, febramol), antibiotics (Metronidazole and ceftriaxone), and antimalarial (Email) were administered. Blood samples were collected and taken to the laboratory for various investigations. The PCV was 22%. Consult was sent to the Hematology team for further review.

“On 23rd April 2024, at 10:38 am, the patient was reviewed by the haematology team and was reassessed as ‘VOC and Hemolytic crisis in a known Sickle Cell Patient.

“IV febramol was discontinued, and syrup morphine, tabs folic acid, Vit C, and Vit Bco were added to the list of medications.

“The patient was then transferred to the Male Medical Ward for further review and care. The repeat vital signs were: BP – 130/90mmHg, PR – 95b/m and RR – 24c/m.

“Further management of the patient commenced immediately at the Male medical ward at about 7 pm.

“However, his condition worsened around 1.30 am, showing that despite being on oxygen, the patient’s oxygen level became low as indicated by SPO2 of 68% as opposed to the 96% that it was on oxygen while in ETR.

“The nurses together with the medical team on call swiftly attended to him with immediate resuscitation efforts including trying to change the oxygen tube to an oxygen face mask to be able to increase oxygen supply to the patient’s lungs

“He subsequently developed Acute Chest Syndrome, amidst other pathologies, that defied all resuscitative efforts even with the presence of two doctors of the medical team on call as well as the nurses on night duty.

“He was certified dead at about 2.10 am and the discharge summary on the EMR was filled at 10 am”

The spokesperson added, “The hospital management commiserates with the family over the loss of the young promising boy. May God Almighty grant them the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.”