A woman, Jessica Ugwoke, was chained to urinal pipe for over one month due to her inability to clear the bills she incurred after she underwent a Caesarean Section(CS), at Samaria Hospital, in Kudaki Road, Hostel bus stop in Ikotun Egbe area of Lagos State.
It was learnt that the management had ordered that Ugwoke be detained until she Is able to offset her medical bills.
The woman who was pregnant at the time, was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, August 12, 2015 while the hospital gave her husband, Tochukwu, a bill of N30,000 for blood transfusion since the woman had lost a lot of blood during labor.
The baby died after the CS but the hospital’s management detained the bereaved woman because her family failed to pay the hospital’s bills which amounted to N285,000.
Her husband who is currently unemployed, begged for the release of his wife, promising that he would pay the bills.
According to him, his wife had been chained for over a month forestall her escape, described her treatment as dehumanizing.
Narrating her experience, Ugwoke said the hospital management never told them the actual amount to be paid until the surgery was done.
She narrated further how one doctor, identified as Dr. Clem ordered that she be denied a hospital bed and refused her further treatment after her surgery until they offset the bill.
She said: “The day they discharged me from the bed, Dr. Clem asked me to tell my husband to bring his money even if he has to steal.
“I have been lying down on the passageway.”
