The Intensive Care Unit at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital was busy this afternoon. The wailing from patients and relatives who had lost their loved ones could be heard from far distance.Intensive Care Units are supposed to be where the sick is given best treatment with empathetic care. But at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital , reverse is the case writes ANN GODWIN.
Celina’s eyelids fluttered but did not open. An oxygen machine aided her breathing, as her chest rose and fell quietly. The machine helped her from crossing the path of life and death. Sadly, this oxygen now comes at a high cost that many families cannot afford. Investigations by The Guardian showed that some nurses in the ICU ward see the desperate need of oxygen by patients as an opportunity to make gains unmindful of the implications on the patients.
Excited, the nurse requested The Guardian to call back in 10 minutes and after about 15 minutes, Nurse Tina called back and confirmed that there was a reserved cylinder for sale, stressing that it costs N10,000 for a kilogramme. She was asked to send her account details for onward transfer and the details, in the blink of an eye, at exactly 12.
The wrong acts, no doubt, have devastating impact on the patients and their families. Celina who died at the hospital on April 13, spent about four weeks in the ICU ward with at least two cylinders of oxygen per day.The computation of consuming two cylinders per day within her four weeks stay in the ICU amounted to using 56 cylinders costing N560,000 for just oxygen alone.
“We thought it was normal thing and bought an extra one which I handed over to a nurse at ICU on night duty, I was surprised when they called me that the oxygen had finished in the night and that they brought extra one that night. Likewise, Mr Michael, husband to 30-year-old Mrs Vivian, who had journeyed through the Accident and Emergency ward of the hospital to ICU because of breath seizure. She had spent two weeks at ICU as at March 13, 2024 when her husband narrated his harrowing experience to The Guardian at the entrance to the ward.
Moved by his pathetic plight, The Guardian saw some relatives of patients contributing money for Uzoma who was unable to speak with the reporter because he was completely overwhelmed by the demands of Oxygen and the condition of his wife. A worker at the oxygen unit of UPTH confirmed that nurses steal, divert and resell patients’ oxygen as well as, drugs.