Private Practice: Govt. Paid Medical Practitioner Holds Indigent Patient Hostage over Unpaid #3m Bill.

Private Practice: Govt. Paid Medical Practitioner Holds Indigent Patient Hostage over Unpaid #3m Bill.

By NWEKE NWEKE, Awka
Despite the civil service rule which prohabits cheerer civil servants from engaging in any other private practice, one of the Nnamdi Azukiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi Anambra State, medical practitioners, Dr. Uche Nwankwo is fingered of operating a private hospital where an indigent persons including 200 level student of Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo state, Miss Chidera Judith Izuogu, are purportedly held hostage by the medical practitioner, their inability to pay outrageous medical bills.
Having the case of thel student of Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo state who have been held in the hospital for over four months now as a case study, the medical practitioner is accused of using the disadvantage (s) of any patient who mistakenly finds his or her way to the his private hospital, Dayster Hospital and Martinity Nkwelle Ezunaka as an advantage, it was reliably gathered that once a patient in the hospital is linked to wealthy man, the medical practitioner will highrockate the bill and fallen to pay means the patient will be hold hostage.
Briefing newsmen in Onitsha few days now on what she is passing through, in the hands of Dr. Uche Nwankwo, the mother to Miss Chidera Judith Izuogu, who is a widow, Mrs. Grace Izuogu, stated, “I plead for justice on behalf of my daughter, who has been on admission at Daystar hospital and Maternity at Nkwelle-Ezunaka since July 19th 2020”.
“My daughter got injured on the 10th of July as she set her feet on a sharp flat iron used as bridge to cross a drainage system in front of our house and immediately she fell into the drainage system as the iron was not well positioned and cut her leg”.

“She was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital for first aid treatment and with the assistance of a Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Henry Ugoke, she was transferred to Daystar hospital where she has been for about four months now”

“On 24th October she was discharged even though she cannot walk with the leg despite the fresh cut from her laps to help recovery including severe pains she is receiving all through her body presently.

With cap in hand I was able to raise #500,000 which was deducted from #3million as advance payment before the doctor commenced treatment.”

“The doctor later deducted #580,000, given a balace of #1.8million and vowed that we cannot leave the hospital until we pay the balance.

“I have paid a total of #1million excluding drugs and other uncountable expenses and payments made to the hospital.”

“The worst now is that her examination comes up on 21st November at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede and I pleaded to the doctor to allow my daughter to go for the examination before she drops out even as I will continue to find means to offset the remaining bill but the medical practitioner turned my plea down .

This is what prompted me to go to press, petition Chief Ebelechukwu Obiano, the Governor’s wife, Commissioner for Women and children Welfare and state branch of Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, to come
to my rescue to avoid the continued hostage of my daughter.”

Contacted on phone, the Medical director said that, “I can’t talk that issue on phone, come to my hospital so that we can talk, ok”.

Pressed further he added that, “I can’t discuss patient’s matter on phone, it is against the ethics of medical practice” and declined further comment.

Reacting, the CLO state chairman, Comrade Vincent Ezekwueme, stated, “the action of the medical director is inhuman, unprofessional and hostage taking which is a serious offence”.

“I am in doubt if he took the medical doctors’ hippocratic oath, to save life not to save money”, he fumed.

Meanwhile students of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, have continued to storm the hospital, with the latest group that came last Saturday, demanding the immediate release of their student colleague.

One of them who identified herself as Chidaru Igbojianya, described the action of the doctor as wicked and selfish.

When contacted through his GSM, the medical doctor said he is forbidden by the rule of the medical practice to discuss his patients’ issue on phone but when media practitioners made their way to the accused hostage taken center (Daystar hospital and Martinity Nkwelle Ezunaka), the medical practitioner subbed the press as he went into hiding only to detail one of his nurses to inform the journalists that he was not within reach.

The leg of the girl who was held hostage in the hospital