‘LASUTH Waited 5 Hrs Before Treating My Brother And He Died’

LASUTH – The Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja is in the dock, this time for the death of a cyclist, Dr Afolabi Mabogunje, admitted there after multiple stabs in the neck region.

Relations say Afolabi would have lived had the LASUTH authorities acted with dispatch and attended to him as soon he arrived their facility.

The family which spoke through the deceased’s younger sister, Dr Olusola Oyekunle, a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology, are bemoaning that it took a clear five hours before  LASUTH medics coult commence the required surgery on their person.

According to them, they had arrived the hospital at 8am, but operation did not start until 1:30 pm, a clear five hours later

Mabogunje, a 58-year-old information technology consultant, fondly called Mabogs and General, was stabbed by hoodlums around Shodex area, Anthony, along Ikorodu Road, The surgery eventually started about 1.30pm for a man who sustained injuries at 5am and got to LASUTH at 8am.

He was reportedly waiting for his co-cyclists when he was attacked by yet to be identified individuals  on a motorcycle, robbed of his phone and left for dead.

However,  he managed to drive the bicycle to a nearby bank where a good Samaritan helped him to call his wife.

From the Gbagada General Hospital where he was first taken to, he was referred to LASUTH.

Oyekunle, asserted that her brother  was stabbed on both sides of the neck, right side of his chest and left arm, and that on the right side, a gory wound set the internal jugular vein apart from other structures.

She lamented that his need for urgent attention, was frustrated, leading to his eventual death.  

“The surgeon and everyone who would work on him had been alerted. Afolabi (Mabogunje) was put in the emergency room when we got to LASUTH. We needed four pints of blood. We got to the blood bank and they said they didn’t have blood. His co-cyclists went to the blood bank to donate blood. They couldn’t bleed them because of the ongoing ARD (Association of Resident Doctors) strike.

“We had to call the director of the Blood Banking Services in Lagos and we were directed to go to Gbagada Hospital. They had to take Afolabi’s blood sample there to cross match. Seyilayo (one of his friends) drove back to Gbagada to get blood and come back. Blood cross matching takes up to 30 minutes to one hour. He was held in morning traffic.”

Oyekunle said while they were waiting for the blood, another blood sample was sent to the laboratory for testing, noting that Mabogunje was not taken to the theatre on time as the blood sample had not been processed.

She added, “We went to the lab to get the results but they had not done the test. We had to wait for them to do the test. He needed to do an X-ray within the hospital but they could not provide an ambulance to move him to the unit. They were asking us to be patient.

“We finally got into the theatre about 1pm and then there was an outage. We waited for about five minutes before power was restored and it went off again. The surgery eventually started about 1.30pm for a man who sustained injuries at 5am and got to LASUTH at 8am. That was the delay that changed the story. If he had got blood within 30 minutes he got to LASUTH perhaps he would have survived”, she narrated.

The Eagle gathered that residents of Okupe Estate in Maryland, the late Afolabi was treasurer of the Association of Inner Okupe Estate Residents (AIOER), are still in mourning mood over his death.

READ ALSO: Sad End Of An Admission Seeker Shot Dead At Own Home

In a message announcing his passage, the executives of the association had said:“With great sadness, we announce the passing away of our beloved and hardworking estate treasurer – Dr. Folabi Mabogunje, who passed away yesterday after an unexpected incident.

“We pray the good Lord would strengthen all his loved ones during this difficult moment and fill the gap created by his death,” the message read