A woman in Akwa Ibom State has apologised after a Facebook video in which she accused health workers of neglecting her ailing mother.
The woman, Idongesit Edet, on Saturday, posted a video on Facebook, accusing a doctor and other workers at the Akwa Ibom State Government-owned General Hospital of neglecting her mother, whom she took to the facility for treatment.
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About 24 hours later, Ms Edet, in another video posted on Facebook, backtracked and apologised over her outburst.
“I am in General Hospital, Ikot Ekpene. I made a video yesterday concerning my mother’s health when I took her to the Emergency Unit of the hospital for treatment. I made a video that she has not been attended to by any doctor, but that was not true. She was being attended to. I looked into her files, and she had been attended to even before the video I made,” she said.
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“I am sorry for what I did yesterday. It was out of fear and ignorance because I was scared of my mother’s health at that time.
“I am sorry for the doctor that I captured his face and the other patients that I captured without their notice. I am sorry to the hospital management and the state government for what I did was totally wrong. I was not supposed to make that video,” she apologised, adding that her mother was doing better.
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The incident is the second in two months in which the hospital workers have been accused of neglecting a patient.
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Last month, a patient’s relative posted a video on Facebook, blaming the hospital for the death of her pregnant sister and newborn baby, sparking outrage within and outside the state, and prompting the state government to set up a panel to investigate the incident.
Addressing reporters in Uyo on Monday, the Commissioner for Health, Ekem John, said the panel report has been forwarded to the civil service commission for action.
Speaking on the latest incident, Mr John, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Patrick Eshiet, said that when the video surfaced on Facebook, the ministry had directed the Hospital Management Board to investigate the allegation.
Citing the previous incident, Mr Eshiet said many people want to turn the hospital into “an amphitheatre for content creation to suit their self-interest.”
Briefing reporters on the outcome of the investigation, the Permanent Secretary, Hospital Management Board, Abraham Inyangudo, said Ms Edet’s allegation was false.
Mr Inyangudo said Ms Edet forcefully entered the doctor’s consulting room without permission, breaching the privacy of the doctor and patients being attended to.
“Records confirmed that the mother was promptly attended to from 7.45 a.m., diagnosed with a long-standing chronic condition, and a laboratory sample was collected, commenced medication, and she was repeatedly reviewed,” Mr Inyangudo said, listing at least six review times.
According to him, despite Ms Edet’s disorderly conduct, the hospital workers offered her mother professional care.
READ ALSO: Akwa Ibom inaugurates panel to investigate woman, newborn’s death during cesarean birth
“By recording and publishing the video, Ms Edet violated the privacy rights of doctors, other patients, and staff, disrupted the peace in the ward, and attempted to present the hospital and workers in negligence,” he said.
Mr Inyangudo dismissed Ms Edet’s “ignorance” as unacceptable, stressing that the incident had damaged the hospital’s reputation.
“A formal complaint has been lodged with the Nigeria Police Force. Legal action for redress and protection of our staff members is being discussed with the Ministry of Justice,” he said, adding that the National Healthcare Act Section 11 (2) empowers healthcare institutions to protect providers and allow a healthcare provider to decline care to any person who is physically abusive except in cases where such behaviour is due to psychiatric illness,” Mr Inyangudo said.
He stressed that the ministry remains committed to upholding professionalism in service delivery to the public, warning that hospitals will not be turned into a theatre for social media content.
“Any individual who violates the privacy of staff members, patients, or disrupts public peace will be held accountable,” he added.
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