I was unconscious for seven hours, neglected by Jos hospital over N80,000 deposit – Ex-minister Dalung

A former sports minister, Solomon Dalung, said he was abandoned for about four hours due to “nonpayment of admission deposits” at the Rayfield Medical Services, in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Dalung, who stated this on Friday via X (formerly Twitter), said he became unconscious for “about seven hours” after he managed to pay the admission deposit.

He stated, “I took ill on Wednesday, arrived at the hospital, and shortly became unconscious after doctor’s interviews. Was ferried into the emergency ward but abandoned for over four hrs due to non payments of admission deposits. Regained partial consciousness, later did the transfer of deposit.

“After that, I fell into unconsciousness again for about seven hours. To God be the glory, I have been discharged after three days and recovering. Were it not for partial consciousness to pay the deposits, I would have been Mr. late. Many Nigerians have gone this way. Where is our humanity?”

In a telephone chat with our correspondent late Friday night, Dalung said he asked his aides to take him to the hospital Wednesday evening when he realised he was “gradually transiting into unconsciousness.”

He said that despite passing out and couldn’t make payment through his phone, officials of the hospital insisted on the payment of N80,000 deposit before they could treat him.

He told The PUNCH, “We left the house around 3:30pm and got to the hospital around 4 pm, but the doctor did not come out. Instead, he said I should come in. He didn’t even produce a wheelchair to take me in. So, my orderly and driver held me and took me to the doctor’s office.

“He asked me the normal questions, but then I was already transiting into subconsciousness, so I was not even hearing what he was saying. I managed to tell him, ‘I can’t sit anymore. Can I lie down?’ And he said I should lie down in the bed in his office, and he concluded his questions. I remember him saying, ‘admission’. I shook my head in response.

“Then three of them came. Instead of taking me to the ward, because it’s a hospital I’m familiar with, I was ferried into the emergency ward. Why emergency ward? I couldn’t do anything, so I lied down and just went off. I didn’t know what was happening. They administered an intravenous injection on me. They brought the medication to me, but it was kept in the room.”

He added, “After four hours, I suddenly became very cold, so I became conscious. And I raised my head and saw some drugs in a cartoon but I couldn’t move or do anything, so, I was just there for few moments, then my orderly came in and then the drama of deposit started. Deposit about what? Take me into admission. They said they couldn’t administer the drugs on me, that I had to pay the deposit before I would be taken to the ward, and then they would administer the drugs. Then, my consciousness became erratic again.”

Dalung wondered why he was treated in that manner by the hospital’s management, despite being their client for several years.

“I’m not even new to the hospital. That’s where my medical records are. The last two months I had my medical checkup, it was there. I’ve been admitted there a couple of times. That’s where my wife died. They’ve been treating my family members. That’s why I’m yet to come to terms with how I was treated.

“They discharged me without even telling me what they treated me for, so I insisted I wanted to see the doctor and that I won’t leave until I saw him. I went on to see him, and I asked him, ‘You have discharged me. What did you treat me for?’ He told me it was high malaria concentration and infection. I walked out,” Dalung told The PUNCH.

He added, “I intend to lodge a protest to the management of the hospital because I would have been forgotten if I had not recovered partial consciousness.

“Even at that, when I was transferring the money, it was an experience between two worlds because I could hear them speak, but when I spoke, I spoke to a different world. But they were talking about money, money, money.

“So, I asked my PA what was happening? He was talking, but I wasn’t listening because we were operating on completely different wavelengths. I could only see them, but they were not in my own world. So, he (PA) now stretched his hand to indicate money, money, and money. I asked him how much, and he said they needed N80,000 deposit.

“I heard that, and maybe that was the grace, but it took me some time because I would start punching my phone, and I would go off. After some time, I would come back (regain consciousness). It went on like that until I was finally able to send the money to them, and I went into unconsciousness again. So, they took me to the ward.”
The Jos-born politician added that he couldn’t give account of what happened thereafter until Thursday morning, when he became conscious.

“So, I asked my aide, ‘why was I abandoned?’ He said we had not paid the deposit. Deposit from an unconscious person? I couldn’t walk from the doctor’s office, three of them could not even hold and walk me to the emergency ward, and you were asking for a deposit? Was it that I could not produce the deposit? I would have been forgotten by now. That would have been the end.

“What has been on my mind is that many would have died from similar situations. It constituted a sort of psychological problem that recovery within that environment became an issue, and I had to leave.”

When our correspondent called Rayfield Medical Services on Friday night, an official who identified himself simply as ID, said he was unaware of the issue.

“I don’t have any information on that,” he said.

The facility is a full-service medical clinic and specialist hospital that provides eye treatment services, ENT, family planning, endoscopy, laparoscopy and emergency health care for trauma and other life-threatening conditions. (Punch)