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Online Petition Launched For Health Advocate 'Killed' By Asokoro General Hospital

February 20, 2019

"Alas! As an ardent advocate for healthy society, Kaffy was a victim of circumstance due to carelessness of our medical practitioners and unhealthy health system. Frankly speaking, this cannot be referred to as a medical mistake but lack of value for life. Kafayat was a lady who had impacted communities, the underprivileged, and even had a line up of community projects for this month. So many indigent people depend on her to put smile on their faces, as she usually does."

The Volunteers Connect Initiative has launched an online petition seeking signatures to force Nigeria’s Ministry of Health to resuscitate the dying health sector.

The petition, entitled ‘Call for Action On Nigeria Health System: Carelessness Of Our Medical Practitioners”, was started after Kafayat Abdulaziz, a health advocate, died due to “carelessness of medical practitioners and unhealthy health system”.

According to Yusuf Yusuf, a colleague of the deceased, she left for Asokoro General Hospital, where she was admitted, and the doctors diagnosed her with pneumonia.

Yusuf said that after the initial treatment, she regained her strength but "painfully, the following day, Friday, her situation became worse and the hospital was no longer as responsive as they were supposed to be.”

"Mobile oxygen, which was supposed to be used on her, was not used. A drug was prescribed by her doctors, but the nurses didn’t give the prescription to the family until a day after. By then it was too late,” he added.

Speaking on the death of Kafayat, the initiative in the petition noted that Asokoro General Hospital contributed to her death by not attending to her with a sense of urgency.

THE PETITION IN FULL:

Due to deficiency in our health sector and lack of professionalism from our supposed 'life savers', we lost our friend; Kafayat Abdulaziz (Kaffy Harbdul). She was a dedicated volunteer, an anti-human trafficking advocate and so unfortunate, a good health advocate.

Alas! As an ardent advocate for healthy society, Kaffy was a victim of circumstance due to carelessness of our medical practitioners and unhealthy health system. Frankly speaking, this cannot be referred to as a medical mistake but lack of value for life.

Kafayat was a lady who had impacted communities, the underprivileged, and even had a line up of community projects for this month. So many indigent people depended on her to put smile on their faces, as she usually does.

Painfully and regrettably, Kafayat would have been alive today, if her health was taken serious at Asokoro Hospital, Abuja. She would have survived, if those on duty treated her with every sense of emergency and urgency. While she was in emergency unit, her health was not taken as seriously as expected. Her family begged and cried but no empathy was shown. But having been swayed by her pitiful condition, a patient in the hospital had to place a call to doctors and kept begging on her behalf but all to no avail.

As expected, medical practitioners are humans and can make mistakes, but they cannot be exonerated when they take lives for granted. Access to proper treatment is a human right. Denying people treatment is an abuse of the rights of citizens. Lack of value for the life of a patient is violation of the rights of the patient.

We can’t keep silent because we lost one life but because many lives may be lost due to the same factors that led to her death.

We vow, in a few days to come, there will be a call for action because we cannot continue to be silent. We have to collectively speak out and call for appropriate authorities to act swiftly to redeem our health system.

We can’t close our eyes to this fact, and we can’t pretend as if these factors are normal.

Our health system is unhealthy.

Support the revitalization of the health sector by signing the petition at http://chng.it/DbBYkrjVMm