The Rivers State Police Command has confirmed the arrest of the manager of Paragon Clinics and Imaging Diagnosis, a private health facility located along Stadium Road in Port Harcourt.
The police said the arrest was part of the investigations following the report of the death of a first class graduate of Microbiology from Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, Edo State, identified as Rebekah Tamunotorukubu Sekidika at the hospital.
The deceased’s father, said to be an employee of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas in Port Harcourt,
Sampson Sekidika, had told PUNCH Metro that his daughter died during a procedure at the hospital on February 2, 2024.
Sekidika alleged that negligence and incompetence of those who performed the procedure on his 24-year-old daughter which he said did not require a surgery led to her death and called for justice.
While noting that he personally drove Rebekah to the facility on the said day, he insisted that she was healthy and without any medical condition, but needed to carry out a test following delayed menstruation before embarking on a foreign trip.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the arrest of the manager to our correspondent on Sunday.
Iringe-Koko expressed dismay that an earlier invitation by the police for the doctor and the person who administered the anaesthetic was not honoured.
She stated, “Yes, I can confirm that the manager has been arrested. And we have also invited the doctor and one other person as part of our investigations.
“The matter has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for proper investigation.”
The PPRO further said two others who were also arrested had been released because their duties at the facility had no direct link with the incident.
