‘Boy attacked by dogs not infected in LASUTH’

Omonigho Abraham

The Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Wale Oke, has said four-year-old Omonigho Abraham, who was attacked by two dogs in the Igando area of Lagos State, got infections after leaving the hospital.

Oke, who said this in a text message to our correspondent, however, added that the surgeon, who treated the lad while at the hospital, could explain further.

 Omonigho was attacked in September, 2014 by two German shepherd dogs which tore his scalp until his mother, Helen, rescued him.

He was transferred to LASUTH where the Governor Babatunde Fashola-led administration intervened and accepted to pay his medical bills.

But the victim’s father, Odia, had a running battle with the management of the hospital, which he accused of not carrying out the governor’s order to the letter.

The victim was later withdrawn from LASUTH and subsequently taken to the Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad in India in late November, 2014, through the help of the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, and a non-governmental organisation, Global Initiative for Peace, Love and Care.

During a visit to the Abrahams on Friday, after they returned from India on Thursday, our correspondent was told he was treated for an infection he contracted at LASUTH.

A report by our correspondent said it took more than one month before the unnamed infection could be treated successfully, which made the management of the Indian hospital to delay the main surgery till June, 2015.

However, LASUTH CMD, Prof. Oke, while reacting to the report, said if Omonigho contracted a disease while at the teaching hospital, his condition would have been worse.

He said, “Infections could have been acquired anytime during his evacuation to India. If he was infected at the time he was in LASUTH, his condition would have been more serious.”

Our correspondent was scheduled for a meeting on Monday (today) to speak with the surgeon who handled the case.

Odia, in a telephone conversation with PUNCH Metro on Sunday, however, wondered how his son could have been infected when he left LASUTH for the Indian hospital the same day.

He said, “It was the same day he left the hospital that he travelled to India and immediately he arrived there, they began his treatment. So, how could he have been so quickly infected? What about when his head was giving out an awful smell and they said it was normal? What about when they opened his head from 6am and closed it at 12 or even 1pm? Their claim is not true.”

Odia thanked the Delta State governor who he said called the family daily while in India to find out about the health condition of Omonigho.

He added that the Lagos State governor helped the family, regretting that “those he asked to do things did not allow his work to show, making it appear like he didn’t do much.”

He said, “He (Fashola) is a special governor with a human heart and I was amazed at the speed with which he responded when our SOS got to him that time. We will ever be grateful to him.”