About two weeks after a Nigerian police officer, Dauda Fika, accused Cedar Crest, an Abuja- based private hospital of wrong diagnosis, the hospital’s management has refused to respond to the allegation.
Mr Fika accused the hospital of mis-diagnosing him of having a large tumour in his head after he complained of severe headache and dizziness.
He alleged that the doctor who performed the MRI scan immediately carried out a surgical operation on his head.
Following the operation, Mr Fika said he started having an acute migraine and experiencing other intense pains.
He said the surgeon had by this time left the country, “after realising he incorrectly diagnosed and operated a patient”.
PREMIUM TIMES repeatedly tried to reach out to the management of the hospital based on Mr Fika’s allegations.
After about five days of waiting for a response, a representative of the hospital, who identified himself as Mr Frank said “the management has decided to ignore the allegations”.
Mr Frank, in charge of client’s relations, said “he has spoken to the management and they have decided not to respond to the allegations”.
How it all started
Narrating his ordeal to PRNigeria, Mr Fika, a son of a former Assistant Inspector General of Police, Buba Fika, said he was shot by troops of an Army Battalion in Yobe State on April 13, 2017, and then sustained a life-threatening injury in his hips.
Mr Fika, who was the Commander of Mobile Police (MOPOL) 41 before he was shot, explained that he was brought to Cedar Crest to get medical attention.
At the hospital, he was diagnosed of having tumour in his head, hence the need for surgical operation.
No sooner had the operation been performed, the MOPOL commander said he started having an acute migraine and experiencing other intense pains.
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It was at that time that Mr Fika, who was a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), received timely aid from the Police Force, who fully sponsored the cost of his medical surgery abroad.
At the London hospital where he was treated, he said the doctor revealed that he was wrongly diagnosed of having tumour in his head.
“Meanwhile, contrary to what the Cedar Crest Hospital’s doctor said, I was told by my doctor here, that I never had any kind of tumour in my head. Yet, another surgery was then performed, where the doctors removed an infection which was affecting both my eyes and tooth,” he said.
What next for Fika?
In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Fika, who recently arrived Nigeria said he has no plans of approaching the management of the hospital without directives from the police.
“I am yet to receive any instruction from the police concerning Cedar Crest. I am under the police so I cannot go to Cedar Crest on my own. I have to wait for the police to give me go ahead,” he said.
He, however, said he was unaware if any of his family members had approached the hospital without his knowledge.
Mr Fika also said the police have been very supportive since his return.
“Ever since I came back to the country, the police have been very supportive. The police deployed a physiotherapist from Lagos to Abuja to take care of my hip that was fixed.
“So far, I have gotten my six months supply of drugs which was given to me from the United Kingdom and which the police paid for. I am grateful for what they are doing.”
Appeal for support
Mr Fika said he will be needing more drugs after the six months supply he has finishes.
“A pack of one of the drugs cost N85,000. About N270,000 is needed every month for drugs.
“I have to cope with some things for rehabilitation. I need a wheelchair, so that I can use the toilet on my own.
“I will need to convert the house so I can walk in between, like making adjustment to the house. I will also need rehabilitation equipment like dumbells, clutches, Zima frames and others.
“This is a new life all-together so I need all of these to adjust to the new life I have found myself.
“The physiotherapist uses electricity everyday so I need some money to buy fuel for the generator and also gas too,” he said.
