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The University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan was so reputable for her top-notch medical facilities and expertise in sub-Saharan Africa that the Saudi Royal Family led by King Faisal came for medical treatment in the hospital in the 1960s. UCH was reportedly rated as the fourth best in the Commonwealth. Hence, King Faisal was inspired by the feat, and years later, he developed world-class hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Ironically, Nigerians, today, embark on medical tourism to Saudi Arabia. Sadly too, Saudi Arabia has remained one of the top ten destinations for many health professionals in Nigeria who left the country in droves for greener pastures. More worrisome is that Nigeria is among the top twenty countries that have their home-trained and home-born doctors and nurses working in OECD countries. It is that bad!
Then came the new year tragedy that befell Nigeria’s global brand and famous author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her husband, Dr. Ivara Esege. Their 21-month-old Nkanu Nnamdi Esege, one of the twin boys, took ill and what they thought was a mere cold turned out “a very serious infection” when he was rushed to a private facility, Atlantis Pediatric Hospital, Lagos. Further to that, a brisk arrangement to evacuate him to John Hopkins Hospital located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., on January 7th, was in place. But because the U.S. doctors demanded a lumbar puncture test and an MRI before the overseas trip, the boy was referred to another hospital, Euracare Multi-specialist Hospital, Lagos, for the procedures.
The unexpected happened. The innocent boy died during the medical procedure. Chimamanda alleged that his boy’s premature death was caused by medical negligence, a claim refuted by Euracare which insisted that it provided care “in line with established clinical protocols and internationally accepted medical standards.” Chimamanda’s stance was emboldened by a tip off that a resident anesthesiologist administered an overdose of sedative known as propofol, to Nkanu. The deceased aunt, Dr. Anthea Esege Nwandu, who is reportedly a dual-board-certified internal medicine physician punctured the hospital’s rebuttal and outlined with leading questions the several breaches and multiple departures from international standards of care by Euracare.
Before now, the hospital prided itself on first-class services, but Dr. Nwandu’s authoritative interrogation set the hospital on edge and impugned its professional integrity. Contrariwise, part of the hospital’s promotional lines in her website reads thus: “You no longer need to travel abroad to receive the highest standard of care…At Euracare, we deliver world-class medical expertise, advanced diagnostics and personalized attention.”
Though the Lagos State Government said it has launched an official investigation into the matter, it did not deter the family from serving a legal notice to the hospital. Indeed, Chimamanda’s tone depicts that of someone deeply traumatized. “Suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever. It is like living your worst nightmare. I will never survive the loss of my child.” Perhaps, this ugly experience adds to her disillusionment with Nigeria which began with her father’s abduction in 2015 by a gang of kidnappers who colluded with the father’s driver and “told him to ask his famous daughter to pay the ransom.”
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Days after Nkanu’s death had hit local and international news outlets, the despicable state of Nigeria’s healthcare system came under a heavy public scrutiny. The death of a petty trader and mother of five, Aisha Umar, who was treated at a government-run Abubakar Imam Urology Center, Kano, blew up pent-up frustrations. The hospital had conducted a surgical operation on her in September 2025, but she lived with severe post-surgery pains that was brought to the hospital’s notice. She was reportedly served pain killers for the four months. It however became too late when the scan result showed that a pair of scissors was forgotten in her abdomen after the surgery.
In a similar vein, the country cried blue murder following the outcry of Mr. Samuel Alozie, the father of nine-month-old twins (Testimony and Timothy) who reportedly died on Christmas day, after they were vaccinated at a primary health centre in Ajangbadi area of Lagos, the previous day. Just like Nkanu’s horrific death, the dissatisfaction with the health system became louder. Nigerians became more agitated and enraged with the avoidable loss of lives in the hands of reckless health workers. Mr. Alozie suspected “expired or fake vaccines or an overdose” as the cause of the death. He lamented that “the woman who has been giving us injections is not the woman who gave us the injection that day.” Thus, after the routine vaccination, the twins “could not eat, they could not play, they could not even disturb as they used to. They were just weak.” The next day, the innocent children reportedly died.
There is a litany of preventable deaths in most public hospitals across the country that border on quackery, misdiagnoses, little or no supervision, poor work ethic, weak regulatory mechanism, recklessness of wrong people who merely tick the box to earn pay, low empathy for patients, and a growing culture of no consequences for professional misconduct. A medical negligence specialist, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba is of the view that over centralization of the health sector under the Federal Ministry of Health made states to become lax in oversight functions. Thus, “There is no requirement for routine submission of reports, no systematic inspections, and no effective enforcement of professional standards.” And in articulating what he termed a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s health sector, he suggested that an independent health inspectors should work separately “to enforce standards, conduct inspections, and ensure accountability” while Ministers and Commissioners should concentrate on policy development and strategic direction.
Beyond the newly-constituted Federal Government’s National Taskforce “to strengthen clinical oversights, prevent medical errors and improve patient outcomes” headed by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, which may end up as window dressing, the health sector in Nigeria needs serious overhaul through political will, strong legislation, appropriate funding, establishment of layers of accountability, and enforcement of standards. Upholding of patient’s rights should also be incentivized. My heart goes to Chimamanda and the families that lost their loved ones! May their deaths not be in vain.
