NIGERIA: Man Blames Poor Hospital Facilities in Nigeria for ‘Bad’ Surgery

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Submitted by IQ4News on Mon, 19/12/2011 - 7:15pm

Akeem Olayiwola believes that Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) mishandled the plastic operation performed on his face, but he is too broke to sue the hospital.

By Ajibola Amzat

Akeem Olayiwola, 44, is a sad man, and he is angry too. He is sad because of his face which has turned to something of a Frankenstein horror. He is angry because he put faith in the medical system in Nigeria, represented by Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and the faith cost him his good looks.

“LUTH destroyed my face,” he said to IQ4News in an interview.

According to him, his tragic story started about 12 years ago when he noticed a boil on his face. He treated it and the boil disappeared after few days.

His respite was short–lived though, because the boil reappeared later; this time, the boil was bigger. His friends then advised him to go to LUTH for an examination.

At the hospital, an x-tray examination revealed nothing. The doctor then prescribed some antibiotics which Mr Olayiwola said he "took religiously’".

The drug opened up the boil, and showed that, part of his face was already eaten up by infection.

But the sore could not heal. His many visits to the hospital did not bring any improvement.

In 2006, Akeem was finally admitted at LUTH again where he spent two months under intensive care. He was discharged in July 16, but the infection remained because he could not find a particular drug recommended by LUTH, and the sore continued to fester.

By the time he returned to LUTH, the sore had gotten worse.

Dr. A.Ogboru, a consultant plastic surgeon to LUTH advised that he undergoes plastic surgery. Seven operations were performed on him at different times at the cost N2million, an amount raised by his Deeper Life Church.

Is LUTH at fault?

After the operation, the patient heaved a sigh of relief, believing his tragic past was behind him. But he was jolted back into reality by the time his wife gave him a mirror to see what has become of his face.

“I wept bitterly. I could not believe I was the man in the mirror.”

If the surgery had succeeded in removing parasites that have been feasting on Akeem’s flesh, he would have disregarded the dreadful face he got from the surgery and continued with life.

But that did not happen. His face kept eroding by the turn of the year. He said he could talk clearly before the operation, “now I cannot.”

Was Akeem’s problem a case of medical failure? Could he have received a better medical treatment elsewhere?

LUTH would not agree to such indictment.

The hospital management said, what the surgeons (Dr. A.O. Ogboru and Dr. B.O. Mofikoya) did was to cover the gap on his face, “and to do that, you need to move tissues from adjacent areas to close the gap. The face has been corroded and destroyed. You can’t manufacture tissue elsewhere. And in plastic surgery, doctors (surgeons) are not God.”

But according to Akeem’s friend, Femi Afuye, when the patient medical file was sent to Apollo Hospital in India, the hospital gave hope of restoring Akeem face and making him to speak audibly again.

IQ4News inquired him whether Apollo hospital confirmed that LUTH mismanaged Akeem’s face. “No. The hospital would not confirm that, they only said the mistake can be rectified.

But there is nowhere we can raise an estimate of N8million medical bill asked by Apollo. Akeem has lost his job since his problem started. The two million we paid at LUTH was raised by the church. Some people advised that we sue LUTH, but where will the money come from?”