A 31-year-old nurse, Mrs. Faith Obinna, has accused doctors at the St. Raphael Divine Mercy Hospital in Ikorodu, Lagos State, of stealing her baby, moments after delivery.
In an interview with NewTelegraph, the new mum said she used the Catholic hospital for her pre-natal care and that during her many doctor’s appointments, three scans were conducted and it was recorded that she had a set of twins. She said it was shocking to her that when she had her baby on March 6, and only ”one of her babies” was presented to her by the doctors.
She claims her baby was stolen in the labour room of the hospital before she could recover from anaesthesia.
“On the first day I registered at the hospital, one doctor Ade that attended to me, asked me to go for a scan. The scan showed twins. The pregnancy was then four months. The second scan was to determine the sex of the babies. One was a boy, but the technician couldn’t tell the sex of the other baby because its leg covered the organ part. I was later handed over to doctor Uzoma, who took care of me until delivery.
On the day of the delivery, they tried to send my husband away, but he refused to go home. He went out to wait. After the operation, they called my husband and told him that it was only one baby inside my womb. Even though I was feeling groggy, I only heard the cries of one baby. I asked my husband, where is the other baby, the staff asked me to calm down. Four days later, my husband and I decided to raise the alarm. The chief medical doctor of the hospital asked me to accept just one baby, I refused.” she said
Speaking further, she said
“When I was about to be discharged, I asked for my scan results, they refused to give them to me. Rather, they hid my file. When we wanted to leave, they locked the gate against us.”
When the couple was eventually allowed to go, they narrated the incident to friends and family members who persuaded them to return to the hospital to demand the whereabouts of their baby. Obinna said when she went back to the hospital, a reverend father and a reverend sister were invited to the meeting where the hospital staff claimed there was an error on the scan results.
“We asked for the scan result. They said that if they released the results, they wouldn’t like to see it on social media that it could affect the medical doctor and the hospital could be shut down. He said that what happened was scan error. I told them it was impossible. I know that scan error could occur in sex, but not where twins’ detection is concerned. I saw the babies with my two eyes. I know they are with one of my babies. The reverend asked us to have mercy. He promised to refund all money we had spent since I registered with the hospital. We refused.” Obinna said
When interviewed, the consultant gynaecologist in the hospital, Dr Uzodinma, said he took delivery of Faith, along with six other doctors.
“First of all, it’s not my hospital, it’s a Catholic hospital. I’m a consultant gynaecologist with the hospital. Faith Obinna was my patient. I gave her my phone number; if I wanted to steal her baby, I wouldn’t have given her my number. The true situation of things is that in November 2019, I asked her to do a scan, which she did in the hospital, with one of our male staff. The scan showed two foetuses.” he acknowledged.
