“For Want of $10”

Veronica writes:

Last July 2011, we learned that one of the young pregnant women that we treated during our mission trip died. She was the wife of the young electrician who helped us during the trip. She was left to die with her unborn baby because her husband forgot his wallet when he rushed his pregnant wife to the hospital in the middle of the night. She was apparently complaining that she did not feel well and was afraid something was seriously wrong with her pregnancy. Her husband gathered her in the middle of the night and rushed her to the hospital on his moped! When they got to the hospital, the doctor refused to treat unless he produced $1000 Naira ($10.) He begged them to treat as his wife’s condition was worsening. He offered to run back home to retrieve his wallet while they treated his sick wife. Even the security guard on duty offered to pay them if they would go ahead and treat the pregnant woman. By the time the haggling was over, the woman and her baby were dead.

In addition to this incident, we learned in December that our driver’s wife had a fever and he took her to a clinic in Owerri, the capital of Imo State. The doctor was apparently out of the office that day. The nurse told them that she could do anything the doctor can do and proceeded to administer an injection to the woman. She immediately had a seizure and died.

These heart wrenching tragedies pain me deeply as the death of a young mother of four and her unborn baby as well as the unnecessary death of a mother of five all could have been prevented.

I’m also reminded that this is what our medical mission is trying to remedy.

Addendum: In January 2012 a member of the Davis Friends Meeting donated $200 to establish the Chigozie Unadike Emergency Medical Fund with a hospital in the nearest big town. This fund will ensure that people from the village who need emergency treatment and are unable to pay will not be left to die.