I Cry Whenever I See My Baby’s Amputated Hand – Mother
The Kebbi community was last week dismayed by the action of a doctor who, while delivering a woman of a baby in Danko area of Zuru, chopped off one of its hands.
Fatimah Ajayi, the baby’s mother, was referred to the general hospital in Zuru, from the Danko Primary Health Centre. According to Alisha Nana Ajayi, who took the woman to the hospital where the incident happened, “On getting there, the nurse on duty recommended we should quickly carry the mother to the general hospital in Zuru because he could not handle the case. He said the doctor in Zuru General Hospital would be able to either move the hand of the baby back to its normal position or carry out an operation to remove the baby from the womb. But unfortunately, none of these happened. The doctor simply decided to chop off the baby’s hand on the excuse that it was dead and he needed to save the mother.”
The incident has continued to generate public outcry and condemnation since it happened last week.
Alisha continued, “The news about the incident quickly spread, even before we left the hospital. People came to us and demanded to know what happened. They said they wanted to see the mother, the baby and even the amputated hand, which we had already buried. Some even insisted that if they must assist us, we must allow them see both the mother and the baby, as well as dig out the amputated hand to show to the world what the doctor had done. So they took pictures of the mother, father, the baby and the amputated hand.’’
Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) where her baby is currently undergoing treatment, Fatima Ibrahim, 32, said, “When labour started at home in Danko village, I was rushed to Danko Primary Health Centre. Before I could be taken to the hospital I started experiencing by painful labour because of the position of the child. One of the baby’s hands was already out. Because the nurse could not handle my delivery he referred me to Zuru General Hospital. But on getting to the hospital the doctor said he would carry out an operation to remove the baby because it was already dead. He said the only way he could remove the dead baby was by amputating its hand. He insisted that the baby was dead, but I could feel it moving inside my stomach. Having amputated the hand of the baby, he realised that it was alive. Miraculously, within that same time I delivered a baby girl, but her hand had already been amputated. I went through hell while the doctor was amputating the hand of my unborn child. I felt like I was dead because of the pains. After that agonising experience, anytime I look at my child with an amputated hand, I always cry’’
Corroborating his wife’s traumatising story, Ibrahim Ajayi, 42, father of the baby said, “About 3am I brought her to Danko Health Centre, but on getting there, the nurse on duty recommended we should quickly carry her to the general hospital in Zuru because he could not handle the case. When we got there, my wife was in a terrible condition. After sometime I was told that the child was dead. The doctor instructed one of my relatives to inform me that the baby was dead. We all agreed that since the baby was dead he should do the operation to remove it in order to save my wife’s life. I was shocked when, after sometime we were told again that the baby was alive, but the doctor had already chopped off its hand. When I heard this information I was confused, sad and felt the world had ended. But I surrendered everything to God. I think there was some unprofessional conducts on the part of the doctor. All I want is justice. Even if the incident was from God, I want the authorities to do what is necessary on this matter.’’
A senior nursing officer (midwife) in one of the general hospitals, who did not want her name mentioned, told our correspondent that given the circumstance and conditions of both the child and its mother at that time, she won’t be able to say the doctor was right or wrong.
“In the olden days there was a procedure we normally followed in the hospital. It was called destructive operation. This is when a part of a baby comes out and it is confirmed dead in its mother’s womb, the doctor could go ahead with the permission of the baby’s parents to do what this doctor did. But that is where there are no standard facilities. But these days, in tertiary health institutions where the facilities are available, we normally carry out caesarian session to remove the child, dead or alive. In this, maybe because the doctor saw that there was loss of blood supply in that part of the hand of the baby, he thought that the baby was dead. And since they came from the rural health centre where there are no facilities to do proper diagnosis to confirm if the baby was alive or dead, maybe that was why the doctor decided to apply the old method. I may not be able to say whether the doctor was right or wrong in doing what he did. Maybe the needed facilities for him to do the caesarian session were not there and he wanted to save the woman’s life since the baby’s hand had become greenish. Though it is no longer in practice in standard hospitals, but in rural health centres, it is still in practice till this day.”
Lamenting over the incident, a brother to the child’s father, Alisha said, “After they amputated the baby’s hand she became sick; but the hospital did not give her a single drug, not even Panadol. We spent five days at home with the sick baby and bought all the drugs with our money.
“Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah assisted us. He directed that the mother and the baby be transported from the village in Danko to the Federal Medical Centre in Birnin Kebbi. Even with the problem we have at hand, emissaries were coming to our house to plead with us to withdraw the petition we wrote against the doctor. Some good Samaritans wrote a petition on our behalf and sent it to the government and the police. Although I cannot say those who wrote it, the petition was taken to the governor and the commissioner for health.
“The father of the baby is my elder brother. I took them to the general hospital from the primary health care facility in Danko. When the doctor came, he entered the emergency room for over 20 minutes. The people we came with told me that the doctor wanted to see me. He said the baby in the womb of my brother’s wife was dead and the only way to remove it was to cut off its hand. He came back later to inform me that we were lucky the baby was alive, but the hand had already been cut off. He wrote some drugs and asked me to buy.”
Following the development, the state government, last week, set up a committee to investigate the circumstances and remote cause of the doctor’s action. A statement by the Senior Special Adviser to Governor Atiku Bagudu on New Media, Aisha Augie, said the governor gave the order after viewing the worrisome photographs and video interview of a man who claimed to be a relative of the child’s father.
\When contacted, the permanent secretary in the state Ministry of Health, Dr. Atiku Muhammed Kende told Daily Trust on Sunday that the ministry had commenced investigation into the matter. “We are waiting for the panel that was set up to come out with its finding so that we can take appropriate action on the matter,” he said.