When Bashir Abdullah, 45, a staff of the Kaduna State Water Board was feeling pain on the lower part of his abdomen, he went to a nearby hospital and he was diagnosed with appendix. Days later, he went to the Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital for treatment but a staff of the hospital introduced him to a private hospital at Unguwar Mu’azu. Bashir’s 24-year-old nephew, Ahmed said they were on queue at the Dantsoho Hospital when a man told them that the centre has exhausted their budget for this year and that the operation would not be carried out until the next. Ahmed said the man referred them to one Dr. Sani. “When we met Sani, he described his hospital to us but we could not locate it because there was no signboard. So we called his GSM line and he led us there,” he explained.
Ahmed said when they reached Sani’s hospital, the doctor asked them to get him razor blades in order to perform the operation. “Few minutes after we gave him the razors, he cut my uncle open and brought out an object. He then told us that that was the problem.” Ahmed told Weekly Trust that his uncle who went to the Hospital with his motorcycle could no longer walk or talk after the surgery...
Few days later, he said the condition of his uncle deteriorated and that they rushed him back to Sani’s hospital. “When we reached the hospital, pus was coming out of the operated area. We later rushed him to a government hospital, where he died. It was after his demise that we got to know that the so-called doctor, Sani, has killed over 20 people in our area,” Ahmed alleged.
Like late Bashir, Alhaji Abdulraheem Gambo of Ruma Road in Sabon Gari went to Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital for medication where one Alhaji Abbas introduced him to Dr. Sani. According his son, Adamu Gambo, who is a fashion designer in Kasuwar Barchi, his late father was suffering from urine-related disease. He said when they got to Sani’s hospital, he was operated on the 15th of June, this year. “Sani demanded for N38, 000 and we paid him N24, 000 but my father died the following day after the operation.’’
Speaking to Weekly Trust, Dr. Sani denied the allegation of using razor blades to perform the surgery. “When they brought the patient to me, I asked them to get me a razor blade which I only used to clear the hair around the patient’s abdomen,’’ he said. Sani heads the theatre unit of the Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital, owned by the Kaduna State government. “You know the society we find ourselves in, people call me doctor because I have been working in the hospital for years. I have never for once told anybody that I am a medical doctor. Yes, I perform minor operations in my private hospital, even here at the government hospital at times, but it’s because of my experience,’’ Sani said.
He said he secured approval from the Kaduna State Ministry of Health to operate the clinic and that he removed the signboard of the clinic because he has concluded arrangement to renovate it. He also said that he has stopped admitting patients because of the renovation.
Sani continued: “I don’t have any syndicate I use in diverting patient from Government hospital to my own. People always come to me for assistance. Like the case of the Water Board staff, he came to me that I should assist him and I did. He was only able to pay me N10, 000 out of the N15, 000 naira I charged them. Hours after I operated him for appendix, he insisted that I should discharge him, which I did. He was anxious to leave.’’
On reports that 20 people died at his hospital, he said: “No. No-one has died in my hospital. But you know death is natural and it comes at any time. People are only out to dent my image.’’
The Chief Medical Director of the Yusuf Dantsoho Memorial Hospital, Dr. Mrs. A. E. Usman said the case has been referred to the technical committee of the hospital and that she has reported the case to Director in charge of Nursing in the state Ministry of Health. “We are not going to hide anybody but I am not aware that a syndicate is diverting patients from our hospital to private ones,’’ she added.
However, when contacted to verify Sani’s claim that he registered his private hospital with the state government, the Head of Private Health Establishment in the Kaduna State Ministry of Health, Dr. Dogara Bok said the name of the hospital was not on the list of registered private health centres in the state. “He is operating illegally. Even as a maternity clinic, he is not expected to perform surgery,” Bok said. When Weekly Trust visited the clinic at Ikara Road in Unguwar Mu’azu, three ladies wearing nurses’ uniforms were seen, but no patients.
