For five years, Mrs. Kehinde Kamaru Busari, a resident of Jos, the capital of Plateau State, has been in and out of hospital, complaining of one illness or the other. But each time, she was treated by Dr. Noah Kekere, who assured her that all was well.
Kekere had assured the family that it was just some normal sickness that comes and goes with time. However, Kehinde’s condition got worse. Apart from the discomfort her regular visit to the hospital was causing her, the family also spent a lot of money.
Kehinde’s travails started in January 2018 when she complained of pains around the abdomen and her husband, Kamaru, rushed her to Murma Hospital, in the Yanshanu area of Nasarawa, Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The doctor told Kamaru not to worry, explaining that his wife had appendicitis, which could be removed by appendectomy – a common medical procedure of removing the appendix, which is a growth around the intestine. However, that common procedure turned into a nightmare for the Busari family.
According to Kamaru, who spoke to newsmen in Jos, he did not know that, during the procedure, Kekere removed one of his wife’s kidneys without their permission.
Kamaru said: “Sometime in January 2018, my wife, Kehinde, complained of pains in her abdomen and I took her to Dr. Noah Kekere of Murma Hospital, along Yanshanu-Nasarawa, Jos North Local Government Area, who diagnosed her and said she was suffering from appendicitis and needed to be operated on.
“We paid for the full cost of the drugs and hospital bills as directed by him.
“My wife was sound before the operation but, shortly after the operation, she started complaining of severe pains. We managed the pains for years while visiting the same doctor.
“All of a sudden, just a few days to the end of August, the pains became extreme and we had to go to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), where it was confirmed that one of her kidneys had been removed by some doctors.”
According to Kamaru, not believing what he had heard, he needed a second opinion. He said: “We later visited a specialist in a private hospital in Jos and it was confirmed that my wife’s kidney had been removed.
“What I want is justice. I want the world to know that this is the predicament that my wife is going through.”
He said that he had reported the case to the Plateau State Police Command, after first lodging a complaint at the Nasarawa Gwom Police Station in Jos North.
Following the complaints from the Busari family, operatives of the Plateau State Police Command immediately swung into action and arrested the suspect.
Police public relations officer, Alabo Alfred, a deputy superintendent of police, confirmed to our correspondent that the command arrested the medical doctor following a complaint by the husband of the victim.
Alabo said the suspect was being detained, adding that an investigation was going on to determine his culpability or otherwise with a view to charging him in court.
He said: “We got a complaint from Busari that, sometime in 2018, his wife fell sick and he took her to the doctor. He also complained that since that time his wife has been in and out of hospital and, when the pain became unbearable, he took her to JUTH, where it was diagnosed that one of her kidneys had been removed.
“We are investigating his claims and will charge the suspect to court as soon as we conclude our job.”
Speaking on the incident, a former chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Chris Piwuna, said that it was a criminal act to take somebody’s kidney without his or her consent.
He said: “If the story is true, it’s a criminal act because he did it without her consent. That means that he must have sedated her to carry out the operation.”
On whether it was possible for the victim to stay five years with only one kidney, Piwuna said: “It is very possible and that meant she could be having one complaint or the other, as the family alleged that she had been going to the hospital with one ailment or the other for the past five years.”
Source: The Sun
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