– Dr. Charles Ikeji and Dr. Terhemba Lan- for six months for causing the deaths of the patients in their care.
The Chairman of the Tribunal, Prof. Abba Hassan, gave this judgments on Tuesday in Abuja during the sitting of the tribunal.
Last September, Dr. Ikeji Charles of Kefland Family Hospital, Apo Mechanic Extension, Abuja, was arraigned for causing the death of one Mr. Fred Akobundu, who was operated for hernia removal.
He was accused of four counts charges bordering on incompetence and negligence.
He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Hassan, in delivering his judgment, explained that in pursuant to its powers under the medical and dental professionals Act, the investigative panel of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria preferred a charge against Ejike, having being convinced that a prima facie case had been made out against him.
From the affidavit of the nominal complainant, the Nation gathered that the deceased went to Wuse Hospital sometimes in April 2018 and was diagnosed of having hernia and placed on medications.
Ever since then, he has been living without any challenge.
On the 28th of July, 2018, the deceased went to Kefland Hospital, Apo Mechanic village with somebody who claimed to equally have hernia.
The person encouraged him to have his hernia operated in Kefland hospital because the doctor was carrying out a promo operation.
“The deceased went to the hospital himself with his neighbour to show him where he wants to perform the surgery. The next day, the neighbor went to check on him only to discover that Fred was dead and that the corpse was already deposited in Asokoro General Hospital Mortuary by the police.
“Also, the death certificate tendered by the respondent was not a standard death certificate.
“The case note of the deceased showed that he had elevated blood pressures. No electrocardiogram (ECG) was done on the 60-year-old man before anesthesia and it was not done by an expert before preparing him for surgery. The respondent doctor’s standard of care fell below the acceptable standard in the profession.
“Even though the patient was 60- year- old and hypertensive, no pre-operative investigation was properly carried out by the respondent doctor.
“The respondent displayed manifest incompetence ion the management of the patient and failed to do the reasonable thing under the circumstances for the good of the patient. The case before the tribunal is not a case of murder or manslaughter, but of professional negligence.
“Considering the plea in the case of Ikeji Charles, a medical practitioner of over 30 years, and the defense counsel requested for leniency, to temper justice with mercy, and which the Tribunal considered. Therefore, it has not given him the maximum sentence. He is going to be on six months’ suspension from the day of this judgment,” Prof. Hassan said.
Also at the tribunal, a registered medical practitioner, Terhemba Lan, was accused of operating a hospital at Mpape, Bwari area of Abuja without a registered medical practitioners while relying on community nurse workers to carry out health services.
The tribunal’s resolution was that the respondent doctor was negligent when he left his hospital open while knowing fully well in advance that he was not going to be available to attend to patients without ensuring that a competent registered medical practitioner was available to attend to patients.
It also said that the respondent doctor endangered the health of Mr. Echefule Obiayi, when he presented for care as a patient in his hospital.
It was a community nurse worker that attended to the patient and signed the referral of the patient to the National Hospital as well as signed the certificate of death for the deceased patient.
While also delivering judgment on the case, Hassan said: “It is an infamous and unprofessional conduct for a medical practitioner to allow his facility open for medical services without a medical practitioner at hand to attend to patients.
“From the totality of all the evidences placed before the tribunal, it is the considered view of the tribunal that the respondent doctor failed in his duty as a medical practitioner, to meet the professionally acceptable standards and methods as provided by rule 33.0 code of medical ethics.
“He was cross-examined by the prosecution counsel, and admitted that he was not in the clinic on the 23rd of March, 2018 when the patient presented at his facility. There was no medical practitioner to attend to the patient.
“The tribunal considered the plea by the defense counsel that the doctor is a first offender who has been practicing for over 20 years without any query and has been in suspension since July 2019.
“However, in this case, there is a loss of life as a result of professional misconduct and infamous practice. The tribunal has an option of giving maximum sentence of striking his name off the register. But in view of what had been outlined by the defense counsel, the tribunal has decided to suspend you for six months from the date of this judgment”.
Prosecution counsel, Sanusi Musa, and defense counsel, Terlumun Azoon, were satisfied with the tribunal verdict.
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