…Appeals to Edo State Government, NGOs and public-spirited individuals to come to their aid
By Okhide Em’ya David
In what looks like a double tragedy, while family members of late 12-year-old female, Glory Ekeleyede are mourning, they are also contending with the alleged confiscation of their daughter’s corpse by the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) over inability to settle an outstanding bill of N400,000.
Miss Glory Ekeleyede, a student of New Era College in Benin, Edo State of Nigeria, gave up the Ghost on the 15th of July this year at the Teaching Hospital due to complicated illness.
Her father, Mr. Samson Ekeleyede, who said he was employed as menial job-worker narrated his ordeal to include, struggling daily to feed his family and that his daughter’s ailment had unfortunately compounded their poor financial situation before she died.
Ekeleyede said they were still indebted to many people in their desperation to save her life.
His words: “Our finances were completely wrecked due to Glory’s sickness. I do menial jobs outside to feed my children. My wife sells tomatoes and pepper in the market and that is how we have been managing.
“Glory hardly fell sick but the only time she took ill was the one that led to her death. We took her to some places for treatment because we thought she had a fever but when she wasn’t getting better after three days, we took her to Supreme Hospital where she was born, and they referred us to UBTH.
“At UBTH, we did many tests and bought lots of drugs, but she eventually died and we were told to pay an outstanding bill of N393,910 before we could take her corpse. They refused to let me have her body until I offset the bill.”
Ekeleyede appealed to the Edo State government, non-governmental organizations, and public-spirited individuals to come to their aid.
When contacted for comment, the Public Relations Officer of UBTH, Joshua Uwaila, said he was not aware of the case, but stated that the deceased’s father may not have gone through the right channel to seek the assistance of the hospital.
“We have a department, medical social services. That is where cases of indigent patients and social issues are handled and those are the ones that escalate it to management. Of course, they also have to do their own investigations to actually ascertain if you are truly indigent.
“So, if you are going to waive bills or going to give some person reductions, you need to do your investigations to find out if it’s somebody that is deserving.
“This has to do with federal government’s revenue, and one cannot just by fiat tell them not to pay. The best that they can do is to write to the CMD who is the only that can do something on the issue.
“The management needs payment for services to sustain the hospital. So, anything that has to do with government revenue, everyone is careful. It’s a pathetic situation but someone has to pay the money (good Samaritan, charity, NGO) someone should pick the bill.”
