Pandemonium in Edo hospital after death of DSS operative
DSS operatives
Published By: Ayorinde Oluokun
By Jethro Ibileke
There was pandemonium for some hours at Edo Specialist Hospital on Monday as operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS clashed with guards and security operatives made up of officers Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC after the death of their yet- to be identified colleague
The DSS was said to have slumped during a meeting at their office located along Court Road.
An operative who did not mention his name disclosed that the victim was first rushed to the health facility within the premises of the DSS office, before he was rushed to the Edo Hospital, at the Ring Road axis, where he was confirmed dead on arrival.
However, his colleagues who believed that the healthcare workers did not do enough to save the life of the operative became angry
They alleged negligence and unprofessional response by medical personnel in the state government-owned medical facility.
The angry DSS operative clashed with operatives of the DSS who brought the deceased to the Hospital, officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and private guards in the hospital in their anger.
An official of the DSS who craved anonymity accused the hospital staff of not responding promptly to their colleague.
He said: “We were in a meeting when he slumped, and he was rushed to our health facility to check his pulse, we then rushed him to the Edo Specialist Hospital which is the closest to our office but the reception we got there was poor.
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“It was our people that had to bring our colleague down from the vehicle. When you go to the hospital, courtesy demands that you bring the patient down and attend to him or her, at least show commitment, but right in the car, they said they cannot carry him, and we have to carry him down ourselves.”
The Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr David Odiko, however, denied the allegation.
He said that the patient was promptly attended to by the doctor on duty who confirmed he was dead as at the time they brought him, but that the DSS personnel refused to accept it.
“They brought him as an emergency, he was said to have slumped and the doctor on duty went to check, and he said he met the guy lying on the seat of the car and that there was no breathing movement because that is the first thing you see, if you can see that the chest and abdomen are moving, he didn’t see that then he proceeded to check if there were still pulse and heartbeat which were also absent. He said he still proceeded to do CPR but there was no response,” Odiko said.
“I was not in the hospital when the incident happened because I was in the court for a case, it was from there they called me and as at the time I came, they had left, but I met policemen on the ground.
“The diagnosis the doctor made was that he was brought in dead, and they said they were not going to take that, and they personally moved him into our facility and dropped him on the floor. I was told that another group of personnel moved, they actually injured a Civil Defence officer who was duty on her head.”
At the end of the chaos, some people, including the private security guards and a female personnel of the NSCDC sustained injuries
It took the intervention of police operatives from the Oba Market Police Station who were invited, and the Chief Security Officer (CSO), Government House, before calm was restored.
