Graphic pic: Man drags Indian doctor to court over death of his wife and scarring of his baby during delivery

Semako Hunpe, a grieving father resident in Lagos has dragged a female Indian doctor, Bharathi Jayaram practising at the Prema Sai Hospital, a private hospital located in Agege Lagos state before the Lagos state High court over claims of unprofessional misconduct that led to the death of his wife Mrs Oluwasetemi Hunpe (pictured above), and scarring of their new born baby during his wife's delivery at the Indian doctor's hospital on February 26th this year.

Narrating his ordeal to Tribune, Semako said his wife Oluwasetemi had registered at the hospital on February 17, 2014 for antenatal services with the hope that she would have a stress free delivery with the Indian doctor. A week after registering at the hospital, she started experiencing some pre-delivery signs and decided visit the hospital. According to Mr Semako, his wife was given some injections and told to wait till about 5pm on February 26th before she would be taken in to the delivery room.

"When she went into labour, she was ordered to engage in minor exercises to help aid the labour. Before she entered into the labour room I can remember clearly that she was normal like all pregnant women that I had seen; she walked into the labour room by herself. I was invited into the labour room after several hours of intense labour without adequate care and was asked to encourage my wife to push out as she appeared exhausted sequel to prolong hours of labour. On getting to the labour room, I found a nurse applying Aboniki (hot balm), pressing the deceased abdomen while asking her to push and after this amateur mechanism did not yield desired result, they cut the deceased three times to bring out the baby and placed it somewhere unattended to.  First of all, I noticed that the baby was left unattached for a long time while all four nurses were attending to my wife,” he said.

Semako said all through the period that the midwives were battling to birth their baby, no doctor was in the labor room to assist with the delivery. He said after wasting much time attending to his wife and at the same time leaving his new born child unattended to, the nurses proceeded to call the Indian doctor.

"During the period of the delivery, I did not at anytime see the doctor; it was after the delivery that one of the nurses went to call the doctor. The doctor came in at about 6.15 p.m and told me to leave the labour room. I left the labour room and stood outside the door. As I stood there, I heard a noise as if someone was being flogged inside. This noise continued repeatedly. My fear grew as the nurses began to rush up and down, fidgeting. It was at this point I tried to get one of the nurses to talk to me but she wouldn’t. Twenty-five minutes after delivery, I was told by one of the nurses that the baby was all right, I went inside to see my wife only to see her being massaged all over her body with Aboniki balm. It terrified me to see the frequency with which they were shouting my wife’s name. She used her last bit of energy to say that her legs were hurting.  Thirty-five minutes later, I was told that my wife would need blood because she was still bleeding profusely. I immediately agreed to this. All this while, I had not seen the baby.  I heard the doctor calling someone and asking for blood. Shortly after this stinging and ugly news I was informed that my wife was dead. Subsequently, they called one pastor to pray for the resurrection of my wife which further exposed the incompetence, negligence and ineptitude of the hospital’s system. Due to the unprofessional cuttings by incompetent nurses on my wife, the baby suffered serious deep cuts on its back and buttocks. This cuts on different sides of the baby’s body further attest to the mutilation done on his wife,” he said.

Semako Hunpe says 9 months after he was born, the baby still has the scars he got while they were trying to forcefully help his wife give birth. He has dragged the doctor and the hospital before a Lagos State High Court over alleged incompetence and negligency. In a N500m lawsuit filed by his counsel, Barrister Kayode Adaramoye, Mr Semako Hunpe alleged that professional misconduct led to the death of Mrs. Oluwasetemi Hunpe, his wife.

The hospital has however denied claims of negligence. In a letter titled "“Demand for N500 million Damages,” and written by the hospital's counsel, John Adanike, the hospital claims the doctor carried out her duties in the best professional manner throughout the time Mr Semako's wife stayed in their hospital. The letter in part reads

“Our client denies being negligent in any manner or being guilty of any professional misconduct. Consequently, our client denies liability to pay damages in the sum of N500 million or any sum at all,”

Dr Bharathi Jayaram has practised here in Nigeria in the last 20 years.