An angry father descended heavily on a medical doctor at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Abeokuta, Ogun State, over death of his 15-month-old daughter.
The father reportedly blamed a medical official of the FMC for negligence, saying the toddler who was rushed to the Children Emergency Room (CHER) of the facility last Friday, wouldn’t have died if there was proper medical attention.
In a statement, Segun Orisajo, FMC’s Head of Public Relations and Information, said on learning of the daughter’s death, the father of the baby threw caution to the wind, beating the official to the pulp.
He said the enraged father hit the doctor on the head several times with a chair before help could come his way.
Orisajo did not disclose the identities of the aggrieved father and the medical staff.
He said the baby had a history of severe fever of one month, weight loss of one month, irritability, and loss of head control.
He explained that the baby was immediately taken in and necessary medical attention commenced.
Orisajo said, “On complaints by the parents that they were financially challenged, the management waived all the laboratory investigation bills as well as emergency medications.
“However, at about 12 midnight the baby passed on barely four hours after arriving the Centre. On hearing about the death of his daughter, her father threw caution to the wind and beat to a pulp the Medical staff who attended to his daughter, citing delay in treatment.
“The enraged man hit the doctor on the head several times with a chair before help could come his way.”
Orisajo quoted the Medical Director of the FMC, Prof Adewale Musa-Olomu, to have sympathized with the bereaved family, attributing the loss of the toddler to the late response of the family.
“Something should have told the parents that keeping a baby that was loosing weight with a sustained high temperature at home for a whole month was a dangerous thing to do by any parent.
“No doubt, we tried our best to save the toddler’s life although the situation would have been a different one if she had presented early,” the MD was quoted to have said.
Musa-Olomu said the latest attack would be the fourth on his staff in recent times.
He, therefore, warned in strong terms that henceforth, the law would be allowed to take its full course on any one caught assaulting or with the intention to assault any of his staff.
