‘Doctor cut my wife’s intestine, used hand towel to block it’ – Aggrieved Widower Alleges

A mother of five, Mrs Josephine Uku Oluohu, allegedly had a towel left in her body after a surgical operation at the Calabar General Hospital in Cross River State. Her husband, Peter Oluohu Aja, said the doctor’s alleged negligence first caused protracted discomfort and she unfortunately died soon after a corrective, second operation which revealed what is now believed to the cause of her complications after the initial surgery.

According to Nigerian Tribune, doctors at the Calabar General Hospital are currently battling to save their necks over the alleged incompetence that has led to the death of the 40-year-old mum.

The husband of the deceased, in a bid to bring the doctors to justice, has petitioned the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 6 Headquarters, Calabar, begging the police chief to investigate the matter.

In the petition, a copy of which was made available to Saturday Tribune, Aja alleges that his wife’s death was brought about by negligence and incompetence on the part of doctors at the hospital who performed a caesarean section on her. He told Saturday Tribune that his wife had undergone the necessary examinations before her due date of delivery with no problem detected, but during labour, doctors suspected complications, hence she was subjected to a caesarean section and was delivered of the baby.

A particular doctor (name withheld) was alleged to have been assisted by other resident doctors at the hospital during the operation that later resulted in Mrs Oluohu’s death. According to the petition, the woman could not recover from her ill-health after delivery as she suffered sleepless nights owing to excruciating pains in her belly.
Mr Aja said he took his wife back to the hospital to meet the doctor (Asuquo) who principally performed the surgery but the doctor always gave them medication after medication and his wife’s situation persisted for the next eight months.

He continued:

“For eight months afterwards, my wife and I visited the hospital and in most cases, we met the same doctor who always alluded to one thing or another and gave us the assurance that she would be well,” the petition stated.
It stated further that the situation degenerated at the time doctors embarked on a nationwide strike. Left with no option, Aja said he took his wife to a private hospital in Ikom Local Government Area of the state, from where they were referred to Asikpo Diagnostic Centre, Calabar, for a CT scan. The scan, according to the petition, showed complications arising from the previous surgical operation.
By the time my wife was placed under another doctor’s surgical blade for a second operation, the real cause of her trauma was revealed.”

He alleged that a certain Dr Ayang who performed the second surgery at Ikom discovered that the doctor at the General Hospital, Calabar, who performed the initial operation, had negligently slit the victim’s intestine and caused it to exude excreta and the negligent doctor used a piece of towel to block the opening to conceal his mistake. The doctor was said to have thereafter stitched up the woman and left the cloth in her belly. The towel and other things allegedly left in her belly formed lumps of foreign body which required evacuation.

In an emotion-laden voice, Aja said that his wife died soon after the second surgery which lasted for hours before the towel could be removed. He said the towel had caused so much damage to his wife’s intestine to the extent that she could not survive.

“Six days after the operation, my wife writhed in pain until she gave up the ghost. And now I am a widower,” he sobbed. He said, however, that the baby is alive and well.

Aja is, however, calling on relevant authorities, particularly the police, to commence investigations into the matter to not only get justice, but also to rid the nation’s hospitals of negligent doctors who, he said, are killing patients on a regular basis.