By Yahaya Audu, Bauchi
The management of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital, Bauchi on Thursday said it has set up a probe panel to investigate alleged professional misconducts that surrounded the death of Master Yusuf Abdulkareem, son to a journalist, who died while on admission in the hospital.
Seven years old Master Abdulkareem, was the son of PREMIUM TIMES staff, Abdulkareem Haruna. He was reported dead on Tuesday morning around 3 am after his parents rushed him there in the early hours of Monday morning.
The child who was diagnosed to have been suffering from a typhoid related intestinal complications was expected to undergo some surgical operations to remedy his condition before he finally died.
The parents had threatened to protest the gross act of negligence on the parts of those who handled his case before he finally gave up.
According to them the doctors and nursesd literally folded their arms while the boy suffered pains that led to his death.
During condolence visit to the bereave family, Mr Haruna, an assistant editor with PREMIUM Times said “God gives and takes life; but the unprofessional conduct of the doctors and wicked attitudes of some of the nurses towards our son and many other patients at the ATBUTH shouldn’t go unpunished. They never gave my son the care we rushed him there to get”.
Apparently jittered by the unwholesome conducts of its doctors and nurses the top management team led by the hospital’s Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC), Dr Abubakar S. Kadas, on Thursday paid a condolence visit to the bereaved family. The team said they were in the bereaved journalist’s home in Bauchi to express their sympathy and regrets over the unfortunate development.
Dr Kadas had in his sympathy message acknowledged that there was a gross professional misconduct on the part of the medics who were supposed to save the life of the deceased child.
“We as a management of the Teaching Hospital Bauchi don’t normally do what we came here to do. But your son’s case is a special one and that is why we are here to express our sympathy. If the CMD were in town he would have personally led this team.
“We are sorry about what happened and we come here to assure you that we have set up an internal panel to investigate the issue for appropriate disciplinary actions”.
Unfortunately the ABTUTH management arrived the home of the bereaved family at the time Mr Haruna had rushed his traumatized wife to a hospital after she broke down with serious fever.
The ATBUTH was established in 2010. The then state government of Bauchi converted its former Specialists hospital Bauchi to become a teaching hospital.
Unfortunately the teaching hospital which is supposed to be a referral health centre continued to function as a glorified clinic where all basic standards in terms of equipment and personnel is lacking.
Patients dying has become a normal daily routine in the hospital.
