New Naira: Pregnant Woman Dies In Kano
At the Abdullahi Wase Specialist Hospital in Kano, a 32-year-old pregnant woman, Shema’u Labaran, reportedly died due to her husband’s inability to pay her hospital bill in new naira notes in time.
The medical staff on duty allegedly neglected Labaran for more than eight hours while she was in pain.
The 42-year-old husband of the deceased, Bello Baffa, narrated the tragic event that caused his wife’s death to an online newspaper on Saturday, saying that his wife (Shema’u) bled to death while he was attempting to use a transfer to pay for medical bills at the pharmacy.
Baffa described how the hospital had stopped accepting old naira notes and he had to wait for hours for the cashier to approve the payment of N8,528 for medications.
The grieving husband resented that the medical staff had asked that he deposit money and give proof before they would attend to his deceased wife.
Baffa claimed he had earlier given the cashier N8,500 in old naira notes, but the cashier informed him that the hospital management had set a ban on the old money and would only accept payment via transfer.
After Baffa brought his family to give blood to his wife, the hospital subsequently asked for N4,000, according to information he sent to the internet portal.
”I was told I had to pay an additional N4,000 for blood service, and I quickly rushed out to the payment point. At that time, it was late and (I was) afraid my wife had suffered a lot without medical attention. So after I made the payment and waited for an alert, I had to beg them to issue the payment evidence while my brother would remain with them pending when they would confirm the transfer. I also narrated my wife’s condition. They accepted the condition and the receipt was printed. I rushed to the ward again and it was at that moment, getting to 1am, that my wife was taken to the labour room.”
Regrettably, Baffa disclosed that the doctor later came out of the labour room around 3am to break the bad news, ‘your wife and unborn baby could not make it.’
The husband stated that Shema’u’s untimely death was caused by the hospital’s alleged barbaric treatment of his wife as a result of the old naira notes rejection, even though he claimed to believe Shema’u would pass away at the right moment.
Baffa acknowledged becoming a Muslim by choice. But, he pushed the government to review the cruel policy in order to prevent innocent people from dying prematurely, as he had done with Shema’u.
As our correspondent was instructed to speak to the state hospital management board, attempts to elicit a response from the hospital’s management were unsuccessful.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the board, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who confirmed the incident, stressed that the management had commenced an investigation into the matter.
He noted that the Chief Medical Director is scheduled to brief journalists about the development as soon as the investigation is concluded.
