Read The Story Of Igbologun Community Where Pregnant Women Must Not Go Into Labour At Midnight

Igbologun community is made up of  over 20,000 people of different tribes, cultures, and religions.

It is located on Snake Island, in the heart of Apapa, under Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos.

Vanguard gathered that Snake Island, on which the community sits, derived its name from the (snaky) way it appears on the map, contrary to the belief that it is so called because of the large population of snakes there.

Despite a history of existence that precedes even the Nigerian nation, the highly populated rural community is dying for government intervention for the provision of basic social amenities like schools, standard hospitals, tarred roads, potable water, stable power, standard market and means of waste disposal, among others.

In the community, a noticeable feature that immediately becomes apparent is the high number of pregnant teenage girls with a majority of them not registered for ante natal care, mainly as a result of financial constraint and cultural beliefs.

Reports gathered revealed that whenever a pregnant woman in the community goes into labour, particularly at mid-night, they are usually in a dilemma due to the inability to afford to register in a standard hospital, and for those who could afford it, reaching the centre at mid-night is a tug of war while obstetric complication that may require surgery is out of the question.

The result is that many pregnant women and newborns often lose their lives and the only Primary Healthcare Centre in Igbologun is defunct.

Speaking with some men in the community who had sad tales to tell:

David lost his wife, Bolanle during childbirth. Bolanle may have been alive today to experience the joy of motherhood, but her dream was cut short because she found herself at Igbologun. She fell into labour in the middle of the night.

“When she went into labour in the middle of the night, we already knew there was a problem. Her mother called for help, but there was little anyone could do because there was no means of conveying her to the other side of the lagoon for medical attention, a neighbour Mr. Gbenga Sosanya said .

“Prior to her delivery time, Bolanle registered for antenatal at Tolu Hospital in Ajegunle, but no boat could convey her there in the night. She and her baby died after several hours of labour in the hands of  traditional birth attendants”.

Pointing to the spot where Bolanle was buried, Sosanya said that the trauma forced her parents to leave the community. He hinted that several of such cases were recorded in the community until few years ago, when someone set up a small private hospital.

“The only Primary Healthcare Centre in the community can simply be described as an empty building because there are no doctors or nurses and, most of the time, it is locked.”

Emeka, who lives in Mama P compound in the community, also lost his wife along with a set of twins.

Daramola, on the other hand, lost his wife and is left to bring up their baby alone. What the three men have in common is that their wives fell into labour at night.

What the three men have in common is that their wives fell into labour at night.

A 30-year-old mum of three Charity Felix recounted how a doctor saved her life.

She narrated: “I went into labour around 2am. I had registered at Sonnex Hospital in Ajegunle where I had my second child who is presently six years old.

My first child, who is 10, was delivered by the Ijaw women here in Igbologun. I could not cross to the other side of the ocean for delivery. When the Ijaw women tried all their best to take the delivery, with no success, they sent me to this private hospital”.

In tears, Charity, who hails from Igueben LGA of Edo State, said her first two children were delivered normally but the third was through C-section and she had been in the hospital for two weeks and two days because they could not settle their bills.

“Recently, my husband lost his job, and to eat  became a problem. We have property to sell, but nobody is ready to buy. Even to pay the house rent is very difficult.”

Another pregnant lady next to Charity in the ward was Elizabeth Luke, who was rushed from a nearby Island, Sabokogi.

She went into labour around 7 pm and after failure by traditional birth attendants to deliver her of the baby, around 4am, she was transported with a chartered speedboat to Igbologun Medical Centre where she went through a C-section.

Elizabeth said there is a Primary Health Care, PHC in their community but no doctor and no drugs.

Speaking with the only doctor Sodipo Gbolahan serving the over 20,000 residents of Igbologan, he said:

“When one of the pregnant women who came for ante natal at Tolu Medical Centre in Olodi-Apapa ( where he was working before) told me they lost a pregnant woman with twins overnight because there was no means to transport her to the hospital, I was surprised and asked why they did not call  for an ambulance.

She said no ambulance could get there.”

He explained further that over the past 5 years, he has been practising in Igbologun, most of his patients have been vulnerable groups, children, pregnant women and the elderly, adding that most of his patients come to his clinic after trying so many options and only come at the point of death.

“Few (pregnant women) register across the ocean in Ajegunle but usually have no means to cross the ocean and end up dead in the hands of traditional birth attendants or are brought to me very late.

There was a case I just discharged, she presented very late, but eventually we saved her life but lost the baby. She went to be delivered  in a church in the community, where there was no nurse. After several hours of prayer and miracles did not happen, they sent for me,” the doctor said.

“When I got there, there was no nurse to take the delivery. The woman was already weak, the baby distressed. She couldn’t push, so we had a C-section to bring the baby out dead, but the mother was alive. She spent three weeks here and they were able to raise the N70,000 bill. Sometimes when patients present, I don’t expect them to survive but miraculously they do.

“Generally here, people don’t go to hospital for delivery. They believe that strong women should deliver at home. There was a lady who, during her first pregnancy, tried to deliver at home but lost the baby. When she got pregnant a second time, she ran to me and said doctor, ‘nothing must happen to this baby’.

“When I came here five years ago, they told me there was no light two years before my arrival and in my five years of staying, there was no light. The situation persisted until January this year when we had light because Governor Akinwunmi Ambode came to our aid. But for 3 months now, it’s been blackout”.

Photo credit: Vanguard