Girl dies in Anambra mission hospital over unpaid bill
Geoffrey Anyanwu, Awka
People Living With Sickle Cell Disorder (PLWSCD) in Anmabra State has been thrown into mourning following the death of one its members, Onyinye Ezeanyika, at a mission hospital in Onitsha.
The sickle cell patient before her death, was reported to have been detained by the hospital management for 18 months because the family could not pay her N1.2 million hospital bill.
Disclosing this to newsmen, the National Coordinator of PLWSCD, Aisha Edward, lamented the death of the young girl at the hospital where she was allegedly held hostage by the management.
Edward revealed that the deceased had a month ago, sneaked out of the hospital to her home to show her relatives the bill given to her by the management of the hospital.
“I had given her money then, and even advised her to escape from the hospital. But when the hospital found out that she had visited me, they threatened her and instilled fear in her, and since then, my daughter had not been herself.
“She even told me that the hospital intended to keep her until Christmas, when philanthropists usually come to redeem the bills of indigent patients; so you can see the motive behind her being detained by the hospital.
“It is more painful because this hospital is a mission hospital that should have shown mercy and care but you can see where we are.”
The PLWSCD boss lamented that sickle cell patients were being used by hospitals to make money by charging them exorbitantly, in the hope that philanthropists and other organisations would come to redeem the bills.
Speaking further about the deceased she said: “I called her yesterday so that she could join us in Onitsha where an NGO donated food items and various gifts to us, including entertainment, but she told me she was in pain and could not come.
“I even brought some foodstuff back, which I hoped to share among the members who could not make it to Onitsha, but to my shock this morning, I received a call that she had died.
“Now that she is dead, I urge the hospital to sell her corpse and offset the bill she left behind.”