How Police Negligence Claimed Life Of Newborn Baby In Anambra

Raymond Ozoji, Awka

The pathetic narrative of the avoidable death of a day-old baby due to the negligence of police operatives at Obodoukwu road in Onitsha is one out of the many melancholic state Anambra citizens have found themselves.

The baby would have survived if the police had heeded the pleas from a nurse and father of the child to allow them take the child to the hospital for urgent medical attention. But alas, the police in their usual manner displayed their inhumane attitude at Okpoko Divisional Police Station and the day-old baby died due to delay in taking him to another hospital for oxygen placement.

This is the story of the ill-fated day old baby: “My name is Chinwendu Okafor. I’m from Igboukwu in Aguata  local government area of Anambra State. I am an Auxiliary Nurse working with Mother of Mercy Maternity.

“On Saturday 16th of May 2020, a woman in labor came to our hospital, Mother Of Mercy Maternity, to give birth. Her case turned out to be cesarean operation. Her husband Mr Uche signed the authorization paper for her to be operated on.

“Honestly, before the operation was concluded and the baby was brought out, it was war. So, after the baby came out, the breathing pattern changed, the baby was breathing like an asthma patient, so we used drug on the baby to calm the baby down but all our effort was in vain.

“So the placenta was cut and the Matron and owner of the hospital told me to carry the baby along with the father and a relative to Infant Jesus Hospital, which is along Tarzan road. So we drove in the man’s car to the hospital.

“When we got there, the two nurses that were on duty chased me back to stand outside the gate, so I told her to attend to the baby that the child is not breathing well and she said yes that I should sit outside with the father and sister. After we sat down, the two nurses came and examined the baby and they tried calling their Doctor but told us that there is no network.

“The baby’s father said that he cannot take such from them, that his baby is going to die if care is not taken, that we should go to another hospital. We entered his car to another hospital in the area. On getting to the place he told us to get down that we should cross the main road let him pack his car well and catch up with us.

“I carried the baby and crossed the road, looked back I did not see his sister who came down from the car with me. I became worried while I waited to see if she will appear. While I was still carrying the baby, some passersby and people that were selling fruits around that Obodoukwu area, opposite Tarzan started asking me… ‘Nurse who owns that child that you are carrying’. I told them that the baby’s aunt came down from the car with me and that I am looking for her now and that the baby needs urgent medical attention.

“I told them that the father of the baby was going to come soon that we were on our way to the  hospital and they said that I was lying. Before I knew it, people started gathering and shouting that I stole a baby.  Those that are with phones started making video of me while I cried for help.

“They accused me of stealing the baby, I told them that I am a nurse from Mother Of Mercy Maternity. They did not believe me and they rushed and called a Police woman who came to the scene and asked me what happened. The next thing the policewoman said I should close my mouth, that I will follow her to the police station, Okpoko.

“Immediately the father of the baby arrived at the scene and asked what was the matter, he pushed the officer away and told them that the baby was his own. The policewoman and two other officers insisted that I and the father must go to police station despite explaining to them how urgent the baby needed oxygen.

“They called Keke (tricycle) and asked me to enter with the baby because the man’s car could not start. They took me to Okpoko Police Station on Owerri road. I pleaded with them to follow me so we can take the baby to the hospital but they refused until one of them came out and saw that it was really a new born baby with blood all over the body and ordered that the baby be taken to hospital.

“The father of the baby was crying like a baby, pleading with the policewoman that his wife who was delivered of the child was at the hospital as she gave birth through operation, rather the officers collected his phone from him.

“We later took the baby to  Goodnews Hospital with the police. When we got there, the medical Doctor came out and asked the nurses on duty to put drip and check if it will pass, the nurse did and blood was not coming out from the vein. The Doctor came out again and told  her to stop that the baby was dead. So I started crying and calling on the policewoman to see what she has done.

“I cried and blamed the policewoman for not allowing us take the baby to the hospital on time. I told her that she would have handcuffed me and saved the child first, then get me arrested if she finds out I stole the baby.

“The policewoman started consoling me and the father. It was then that they dropped us back to the junction where we took Keke to my hospital with the dead baby. I narrated my experience and ordeal to the Matron, Mrs Chinenye Egbodike, and  the Doctor who confirmed that the delay was what killed the baby.

“The hospital and the husband, Mr Uche, could not tell the mother of the child that her baby was dead as she was still in a critical condition but curious to see her newborn baby.

“Few minutes later, calls started coming into my phone and that of my mother who was at home, that they saw a video of me on the social media where I was apprehended for stealing a baby. The news got me devastated as I cried out to God but it was rather late as more calls from family and friends kept coming.

“I summoned courage and opened my Facebook. Behold, the video of me carrying the baby was already trending with comments. The man and his wife are from Imo State but live in Anambra state and this was their second delivery in our hospital.

“I showed the midwife and nurses the video as I could not hold back tears. My hands are clean, I did not steal any baby. The midwife and owner of our hospital gave me the baby to transfer to another hospital for them to put oxygen, that was how I saw myself on the internet that I stole a baby,” the embattled nurse explained.

The matron and owner of Mother of Mercy Maternity, Mrs. Chinenye Egbodike, said, “Chinwendu is one of my best staff. That was why I handed the baby over to her with the father to go to the other hospital as the baby was not breathing well. I was surprised when I started hearing that they accused her of stealing the baby.”

However the Police Public Relations Officer in Anambra, SP Haruna Mohammed said, “The fact in issue is that a woman delivered a premature baby through CS and the doctor instructed the said nurse to carry the baby to another hospital in order to be kept inside an incubator in company of the child father.

“They were intercepted by some youths who suspected that the nurse stole the child  on their way to the hospital at Upper Iweka. The youths were about to lynch her when Police Patrol team attached to Okpoko Division rescued and brought her to the Station for discreet investigation.

“However, investigation revealed that the Nurse is innocent and was actually sent by the Doctor to carry the baby to another hospital shortly after the mother gave birth to the child through caesarean section where it was discovered to be a still-born and needed to be kept inside an incubator in order to be alive. Unfortunately the baby later died.”