Renowned Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has come out publicly for the first time since her 21-month-old son passed away six months ago. Over the weekend, she used her Instagram page to accuse a top Lagos hospital of trying to block an inquest into the boy’s death.
The little boy, Nkanu Nnamdi, died on January 7 at Euracare Multispecialist Hospital. He had been taken there for some tests, including an MRI, before he was supposed to travel to the United States for special care.
Adichie, who lives in America but was in Nigeria for Christmas holidays, shared a letter she wrote to the hospital dated April 16. In the letter, she said losing Nkanu so cruelly, so unfairly and so carelessly has brought her a pain that words cannot even explain.
The coroner’s inquest was supposed to start on April 14. But according to Adichie, Euracare decided to use delaying tactics instead of cooperating. She pointed out that it was actually the hospital that first asked for the inquest back in January. They said the baby’s death was unexpected and an inquest would help them because there were already “rumours of negligence.”
Now, she says, the same hospital is stalling, muddying the waters and confusing everything. She added that if this is how Euracare handles a crisis, then it is no surprise they messed up the care of her precious son.
In her letter, Adichie also revealed that the hospital’s medical director told her the anaesthesiologist gave her son too much of a drug called propofol to sedate him during the MRI scan. That overdose, she was told, led to respiratory and cardiac arrest. But the death certificate the hospital issued says the boy died from meningitis.
The hospital has already denied any wrongdoing in the past, and AFP had reached out to them again for a comment on these new accusations.
The little boy’s death has once again sparked tough conversations about how poor Nigeria’s healthcare system really is. Many are now asking hard questions about accountability and how private hospitals handle such sensitive cases.
0 Comments