Five health facilities in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, including National Hospital and Gwarimpa Hospital, allegedly refused to admit a woman in need of medical attention.
The businesswoman said to be around 60 years old, was “rejected” over lack of bed space.
The yet-to-be-identified Nigerian was rushed to the hospitals after she suddenly fell ill at a hotel in Gwarimpa, a highbrow area in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The hotel manager, Samuel, recalled that their quest could not sit or stand, few hours after she checked in on Monday.
Samuel, in a video he made at the Gwarimpa Hospital (near the hotel), said he and some staff quickly took their guest for medical attention but were shocked by their experience.
The complainant, in footage obtained by PRNigeria on Wednesday, disclosed that doctors turned them back even though the woman was in a critical state in an ambulance.
“This is the fifth hospital we have visited today, from 7am to now 8:30pm. The woman is lying inside the ambulance in a stretcher. We have to pay for every trip, from National Hospital to Gwarimpa Hospital to Setraco Hosiptal…”
Samuel lamented that at all locations visited, the story was the same.
“They will tell us there is no bed space. They checked her vitals, said she’s okay…that her temperature is not high so it’s not COVID-19. We were told to go home, but we’re not medical people.
“This is every day in Nigeria, you’re on your own. Just don’t get sick. In Nigeria, we’ve seen people die too much so we don’t even care. But how do we keep living like this?”
“The reason why we are still here is because she is in this ambulance. The second ambulance (driven by the same driver) just took a COVID-19 patient who just died out. We are waiting for him to come back.”
