By Jonathan Ugbal
A journalist, Ekpe Bassey is currently at loss over actions to take after his wife, Angela Bassey delivered a stillborn despite assurances from doctors at the General Hospital in Calabar, the Cross River State capital that she was okay.
Mr. Ekpe is the nonlinear editor attached to the press unit of the Governor’s Office from the state owned Cross River Broadcasting Corporation, CRBC and his wife has been on induced labor between Sunday, July 31, 2017 till August 6, 2017 CrossRiverWatch gathered.
“Up till that morning they were still insisting that she’ll put to birth normally,” said Mr. Ekpe who said they had been coming regularly for checkups.
“The last time we came was on July 20. That day the Doctor on duty told us that my wife is due and the baby was well and kicking.
“Then they told my wife that by next clinic day if nothing happens that they’ll decide what to do.
“The next clinic day when we came was 27th, the Doctor told us to do a scan. The scan report came and the story changed that the baby is not breathing,” Mr. Ekpe said.
He said that on July 27, he was told the baby had stopped breathing and despite demanding a Caesarean Session be done immediately, the hospital said it was against its policy.
“They mentioned that it is a case of IUFD (intra-uterine foetal demise) on the 27th and I had expected them to do the CS almost immediately, but they insisted that they only do that as a last resort and that it was their policy never to do CS on a case like that.”
“They said they were going to induce labor for her to push out the baby and they began the procedure last Sunday,” Mr. Ekpe said.
He said his wife has been in labor for a week until the early hours of Sunday, August 26, 2017 when complications arose and they were attempts to refer her to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) when he pleaded that the wife may die due to her condition.
“She went into labor since then (Sunday, July 31, 2017) up till that (August 6, 2017) morning (when) they now told me they couldn’t handle the issue and that they’re going to refer me to a tertiary institution UCTH.
“Then I now begged them that my wife could die before we get there,” Mr. Ekpe said and almost broke down in tears when he said a Caesarean opration performed on the wife could only bring out a dead child after weeks of assurances that nothing was wrong and that his wife will deliver ‘normally.”
When asked if he will press charges, he said he was still unsure.
“I will not press charges, but I want that policy revised. I almost lost my wife as a result,” Mr. Ekpe said and added that “I don’t want it happening again to another person. At the least, they must revise their protocol.”
Mr. Ekpe got married to the wife on January 16, 2016 and this was her first pregnancy family sources said.
As at press time, the child had been buried while Mrs. Angela despite being unconscious initially is now recuperating.
But, Mr. Ekpe in an earlier interview expressed optimism that all will be well and was at loss what to say to her and how to console her.
Calls to the lines of the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Inyang Asibong did not connect as at the time of filing this report.