Father petitions minister over daughter’s death at childbirth

AN aggrieved father, Mr. James Egbuchulam, has petitioned the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, over the death of his daughter, Mrs. Uloma Egbuchulam Anyanechi, during childbirth at Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Abia State.

Egbuchulam in a letter to Chukwu dated April 23, 2012 with title: “Tragedy at Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia: Death of Mrs. Uloma Egbuchulam Anyanaechi” blamed the hospital for the death of his daughter and pleaded for justice.

He wrote: “I wish to inform you that my daughter, Mrs. Uloma Egbuchulam Anyanaechi died on the theatre table of the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia, Abia State on Thursday, November 24, 2011.

“She had given birth to a healthy baby girl under normal delivery inside the labour room of the hospital by 10.45pm on Wednesday, 23rd November, 2011.

“About an hour later, bleeding started but the medical officers could hardly stop it even after delayed blood transfusion. They later took her to theatre for surgery but failed to resuscitate her. So she died.”

Egbuchulam told the minister: “The death of my daughter is tragic, painful and unbelievable. I have never witnessed such a calamity. Occurring when it did and how it happened raises an obvious question: was it not avoidable? Somebody who walked into the hospital healthy and normal should not come out cold and dead. That such an incident happened in this age at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia (supposedly a centre for excellence) dampens and deadens the hope of the citizen about medicare and maternal treatment.”

“I plead for justice,” he lamented.