The family of Rebecca Sekidika, a 24-year-old first-class graduate of Benson Idahosa University, who died on February 2 after a routine checkup at Paragon Clinics and Imaging Diagnostics in Port Harcourt suspects medical negligent after an overdose of spinal anesthesia led to her untimely death.
Rivers State police have initiated an investigation into the tragic death of Rebecca Sekidika, a 24-year-old first-class Microbiology graduate. Rebecca, Sampson Sekidikaâs smart daughter from Okirika Local Government Area in Rivers State, died at the Paragon Clinics and Imaging theatre in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Her path to the premature grave was hard and short. The young gorgeous girl was alive and hearty when she entered the hospitalâs theatre for a simple medical procedure, but an hour later, she lay motionless in a pool of blood, like a slaughtered cow on the slaughter slab.
If Rebeccaâs parents, particularly her wealthy father, who has worked as a COREN-certified engineer for Nigeria LNG Limited for about 25 years, had foreseen the danger, they would have discouraged their daughter from looking into her minor health problem.
However, February 2, 2024, began like a usual day.
Rebecca had made plans to travel abroad to complete her education. Her first destination would have been the Brain Station in the United Kingdom. She was scheduled to travel on February 9. Her father had already obtained the necessary visa and paid for her flight and lodging for a six-month course in software engineering.
Rebecca planned to pursue her masterâs and PhD degrees after completing her six-month course.
Indeed, she had already stored her belongings in preparation for her journey when she decided to check her health status and keep her medical record available. Before the incident, the UK-bound student was already taking online classes.
The only complaint that prompted her to seek medical attention for her health was delayed menstruation. She had gone several weeks without observing her menstrual cycle. She grew curious and wanted to know why.
Her curiosity led her to Paragon, a hospital in Port Harcourt that serves as a retainer for the LNG facility where her father works. However, that single decision has caused the Sekidikas great pain and regret.
Sekidika, who could not hold back his tears, recalled that her daughter had visited the hospital previous to February 2 and underwent some medical tests, including a pregnancy test, which came back negative. He stated that the hospital instructed her to return on the aforementioned day for further assessment.
The engineer said: âPrior to February 2nd, my daughter had a brief clinical visit to Paragon Clinics and Imaging located at Number 96 Stadium Road.
âThe complaint was that she had not seen her menstruation for a while. So she needed to know why. When she had the clinical visit they subjected her to some tests including a pregnancy test which came out to be all negative.
âBut they called her again to say she needed to see a specialist for the final examination. The specialist booked an appointment with her to come between 12 and 1pm on the 2nd of February for a simple procedure they called hysteroscopy.
âIt is just a procedure that involves using a tube and a light bulb through the vagina to check if there is anything in the uterus. It is purely for diagnostic purposes. It takes between 15 to 20 minutes depending on the doctor. They have a monitor to check. It doesnât involve giving anaesthetic. It doesnât involve any surgery.â
On the fateful day, Sekidika drove his daughter and her mother (his wife) in his car to the hospital to undergo the procedure. They waited for the doctor for more than four hours but to no avail.
Maybe the long wait was a tell-tale sign for the parents to take their daughter home, but the senior Sekidika was no longer within the hospital; he had gone to attend to some issues within the city.
However, when he called at about 3pm to find out from his wife whether the doctor was around, he was told that they were still waiting for the specialist. In fact, the wife told him that his daughter was already online undergoing a virtual class with other students on her laptop.
At 4pm, the father, who felt that they had waited for too long, raced down to the hospital to take them home.
The traumatised Sekidika said: âI took my daughter. She was healthy. She had no medical condition. I took her with the mother to the clinic. When we got there the doctor didnât show up between 12 and 1pm.
âI decided to leave them there to go and do one or two things and come back to meet them. At about 3pm, I called my wife and she said the doctor was still not around.
âShe said my daughter had even started online classes because she went with her laptop. They were doing online classes because the physical classes would start on Monday.
âShe was supposed to travel on the 9th for her masters and PhD. Everything had been arranged, including flights.
âAt 4pm, I called and they said the doctor was still not around. I decided to be on my way to go and pick them.â
On getting to the hospital, it was already late. The engineer explained that when he got to the hospital, he was told that his daughter walked into the theatre at about 4:30pm.
He said: âBut when I got there close to 5pm, they had already taken her to theatre at about 4:30pm. I asked why theatre and they said it was where they had the monitor.
âSince they started around 4:30pm, by 5pm she should have been out, but she was not out. At 5:30pm my wife heard a shout from the theatre: âRebecca, wake up!â That could be when she passed, I donât know.
âWe saw them running around, going in and, out and they were not telling us anything. They only told us, âEverything is okay. Your daughter is fine.â We didnât know she had died.
âAround 7pm, the doctors came out and broke the sad news to us: âSorry, we did everything we could, your daughter has passedââ.
Sekidika and the wife died temporarily with the news of their daughterâs passage. While the father was numb, lost in thought and gazed motionlessly, the wife was screaming, crying and throwing herself up and down. Where did they go wrong?
The engineer said: âIt was as if I was dreaming. I only asked God to wake me up from this bad dream.
âMy wife started shouting and throwing herself up and down. During this period, the doctor, anaesthetist and nurses all disappeared at the third floor, leaving us there with the lifeless body.
âThey ran, and where they went to, l didnât know. In the process of shouting and crying, my wife called her sons and told them what happened to their sister. It was around 10pm.
âWhen we went into the theatre, we saw blood all over my daughterâs body and on the floor. I was confused.
âI have the gory pictures. I didnât know why the blood. Nobody explained to me.â
Sekidika said while in the confused state, his colleague, who had heard what happened, rushed to the hospital to see him. He said it was the colleague, who dragged him to the office of the doctor and the anaesthetist.
He said: âMy colleague came and dragged me down to see the doctor and the anaesthetist, and when we got to them, my colleague asked them what happened. The doctor pointed to the anaesthetist and said he gave her spinal anaesthesia.
âThe doctor said 30 minutes after he gave her, she said she wanted to throw up and from there she started throwing up blood. At that point, the doctor said he became confused, he didnât know what to do.
âThey tried to see how they would manage the situation until she lost too much blood and passed.
âWhen we came out I was still confused. I didnât know they were going to give my daughter spinal anaesthesia.
âExperts have already analysed the situation. Spinal anaesthetic is only given during a major operation. My immediate elder sister is a consultant physician. Her husband is a surgeon.
âI could easily go to any other hospital and take care of it. But this hospital is a retainer with my company. The company refers us there.
âWe go there for clinical visits. But this does not entail any surgery or any form of opening up. That was why we went to this particular retainer qualified by my own company. I didnât go there on my ownâ.
Sekidika said he had to reach out to his sister, the consultant physician, and told her how her niece passed at the hospital
He said: âI told my sister that I didnât understand what they were saying. It was 12 midnight already. My sister came with her husband, went up and saw the niece and started crying. She almost fainted.
âThe husband took her to see the doctor and the anaesthetist that did this. The doctor explained a similar thing that 30 minutes into the procedure he noticed that the girl was throwing up blood.
âThis means that in the process of using the tube, they ruptured an artery or a vessel. The anaesthetic was killing her and then the rupture. So she bled throughout.
âMy sister turned to the anaesthetist and asked, you gave her spinal anaesthetic; what for? She said even D and C and evacuation are done without anaesthetic.â
Sekidika believes that the hospital killed his daughter out of sheer negligence. But the hospital, in the sighted death certificate it issued to the family, wrote that the girl died out of coronary failure due to pulmonary embolism/vascular rupture.
The engineer has vowed to secure justice. He immediately reported the matter to the police following the advice of his company.
He said the police had begun investigation into the matter, adding that the hospital and persons involved in the painful and untimely death of his daughter must be brought to book.
It was also gathered that the NLNG had opened an independent investigations into the incident with a view to helping the family get justice and reviewing its relationship with the hospital.
The hospital, however, evaded inquiries about the incident. The reporter visited the hospital and demanded to speak to either the Chief Medical Director or the Manager, but the female receptionist said the CMD doubled as the manager.
After filling the visitation form, the receptionist demanded to know the purpose of the visit. When she was told, she made some intercom calls and eventually said the person who was supposed to attend to the inquiry was not on seat.
She took the reporterâs telephone number and promised to call him but she failed to do so. When our correspondent called the telephone number on the hospitalâs website, the receiver, who identified himself as Chima, also promised to relay the inquiry to the management.
The police have since intensified investigation into the circumstances that led to the tragic end of Rebecca.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed that the manager of the hospital had been arrested and two other doctors were invited in connection with Rebeccaâs death.
Iringe-Koko expressed dismay that an earlier invitation by the police to the doctor and the person that administered the anaesthetic was not honoured.
She said: âYes, I can confirm that the manager has been arrested. We have also invited the doctor and one other person as part of our investigation. The matter has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for proper investigation.â
But while the investigation is ongoing, Sekidika and his family are grieving. âIf there is something I donât wish my enemy to go through, it is this emotional trauma,â he said.
Explaining the bond between him and his late daughter, he said: âShe was my second child but my first daughter. We have been together as a close family. I have four, two girls and two boys, but they have taken away one.
âFather-daughter relationship is always very strong. This is someone that was very promising. She had everything going for her. You can imagine someone going for her masters and PhD.
âTo send someone to abroad for studies by this time is not easy. You can imagine what I have gone through in opening up all accounts to get her money to send her overseas.
âImagine the bond that we share as a closely-knit family. She was supposed to have her 25th birthday on the 29th of May. She was the event planner for the motherâs 50th birthday on the 10th of May.
âShe said she was going to plan the magazine and monitor everything through zoom.â
Sekidika urged the police to be thorough in their investigation with particular reference to the foul play that dimmed his star.
He said: âI was there when the foul play took place. First and foremost they didnât tell us they were going to give her spinal anaesthetic. They said it was a simple procedure. That is already a red flag.
âIn the course of the procedure you ruptured a vessel. You were coming out and going in without telling the parents who were outside the problem.â
He said if the hospital had told them exactly what happened before her daughterâs death, he would have called his sister and the husband to immediately activate an emergency process to save her life.
He said: âI am asking for justice. I donât wish my enemy to go through what we are going through as a family. Full investigation must go into this case. It is now between the police and them.
âA legal autopsy must be carried out to determine the real cause of death.
âFrom the report of the autopsy we will seek legal redress. If it is established she died out of incompetence and sheer negligence, the law knows what to do with them.
âI lived most of my life overseas. I studied them. If we were overseas, first and foremost they would have sealed that hospital because every minute something similar will happen again.
âI want my own case to be the last. I will do everything to get justice. I want them to bring these people to book.â
Painfully, even Sekidika knows that justice will not bring his daughter back to life. Forever, the memories of his lovely daughter will continue to resonate in him. He will continue to imagine the pains she passed through before giving up as well as her unfulfilled dreams and aspirations.
Tears flowed freely on Saturday when the remains of Rebekah Sekidika, a first-class graduate of Microbiology from the Benson Idahosa University, Benin City in Edo State was buried at the Port Harcourt cemetery in Rivers State.
As early as 6:30 am, family members, relatives, friends, and mourners dressed in black trooped to the Military Hospital in Port Harcourt where her body was deposited to be retrieved from the morgue for burial.
Her body arrived at the âVaults and Gardensâ a private part of the Port Harcourt Cemetery where a brief funeral service presided over by Bishop Chris Ebata was conducted as the deceased younger sibling, Josephine said the first reading from the book of Thessalonians chapter 4: 13 to 15.
Two popular hymns âWhen Peace Like a Riverâ and âRock of Agesâ sung by the mourners set the stage for the funeral service.
Bishop Ebata in his homily explains the handicap of mortals in death, saying, âNo man has the power to stop the spirit from departing when it is timeâ.
The cleric said he is consoled having learnt that late Rebekah loved God and submitted to Him, even as he admonished the gathering to seize the moment to reflect on their lives.
He stated, âHere her (the deceased) spirit is speaking to everyone to serve the Lord. That is her evangelism to us. Therefore the question is what are we doing with our lives?
He emphasised that her demise should serve as a sober reflection not only for her immediate family but for all who came to pay their last respect.
Continuing in his exaltation, the cleric made a veiled reference to the circumstances that may have culminated in Rebekahâs demise, saying, âWe are praying also that those human errors should be corrected in Nigeriaâ.
He rounded off with prayers for God to give the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss, describing death as a necessary end everyone will bow to at some point in their lives
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