Due to the circumstances surrounding Ms Precious Agindi’s demise, the University of Calabar has taken disciplinary action against four members of the institution’s medical centre personnel and suspended them.
Agindi was in her third year at the school, studying Library and Information Science.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Agindi died at the institution’s Medical Center on January 28.
Prof. Florence Obi, the vice chancellor of the University of Calabar, gave a briefing to the press on Tuesday after getting the autopsy report.
She said the staff had been suspended because they didn’t show enough “emotional commitment” to the deceased person.
Obi said that the autopsy explained why the student, who was taken to the hospital in a very critical condition and died less than an hour later, had died.
“For emphasis, let me categorically state that the death of Ms Precious Agindi had nothing to do with the rumoured ruptured appendicitis as her appendix was found at autopsy to be healthy, not inflamed and intact.
“This regrettable incident sparked strong emotions, students’ demonstrations on that fateful day and a lot of misinformation and outright falsehood peddled by ill-informed and mischievous people, both within and outside the campus.
“Regrettably, the lies that have been deposited in the public space, conscientiously or unconsciously, as amplified by social media, have had a damaging impact on the reputation and image of our university that my administration is working very hard to protect.
“Management chose not to join issues with peddlers of falsehood at a time of profound sadness and sober reflection.
“These persons without cause hastily blamed the death on the Medical Centre and by extension the university,” she said.
She said that the university kept a studied silence and looked into how the patient was treated at the facility by putting together a panel of inquiry and holding a Coroner’s Inquest to find out why he died.
“This, we are sure, will serve a great purpose in the future, for understanding the causes of things is one of the callings of the university.
“As I addressed protesting students on campus that fateful day, this much I promised we would do.
“In fulfilment of this, with the full approval of the deceased’s family, we ordered an autopsy by one of the foremost Nigerian Forensic Pathologists.
“We are thankful to God that our late student was peacefully laid to rest on February 11, 2023, in her hometown, Gbe Nanav, in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.
“Yesterday, in the presence of the representatives of the family, the Benue and Tiv Community in the University, SUG officials, members of the Panel of Inquiry, Management received the Autopsy and the panel of inquiry reports.”
She said that the late student never went to the university medical centre. Instead, her friends took her there on the day she died because her health was so bad.
“Please note that Ms Precious had received treatment from other private clinics in town from the scan result and other medications presented to the nurses on duty when she was brought in.
“The panel of inquiry made up of experienced medical consultants and doctors absolved the nurses on duty of professional negligence but saw elements of lack of emotional commitment as medical professionals.
“While life and death are both in God’s hands, management of the university firmly believes that it is our responsibility to do our best at our respective duty posts to offer the service of care both professionally and emotionally considering our quest for excellence as an academic institution.
“It is on this note that management feels that medical personnel in our medical centre must give not just professional services but emotional and psychological services which are more soothing especially when one is on a sick bed.”
The Vice-Chancellor (VC) said that the problem of commitment to work at the University of Calabar was an essential part of the school in all of its parts, including the Medical Centre.
“Management has, therefore, decided to place all the staff on duty on a 3-month suspension for lack of empathy and psychological support and especially for demanding money for card against the medical centre policy of attending to patients in critical condition first.
“The above investigation has revealed that the patient was brought to the Medical Centre critically ill and her eventual death shortly after arrival was not a result of professional negligence by staff of the medical centre.
“Also, there is an established clinical condition as the cause of death which, in deferment, to the family and in respect to the dead, we do not wish to reveal.
“Yet all sorts of lies have been told both online and offline to batter the image of the University and instigate unrest among the students,” she said.
https://www.xtra.net/article/unical-suspends-four-medical-staff-over-students-death/
