TRIPLETS HELD BY HOSPITAL OVER MEDICAL BILLS

A set of triplets delivered eight weeks ago are  being held in Asaba, Delta State  by the management of a private hospital in over inability of the parents to raise the sum of N723, 100.00 to offset medical bills.

Mr Godswill Echenim, father of the triplets told reporters  in Asaba that he took his wife to the private medical facility due to the prolong nationwide strike by doctors under the aegis of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in public hospitals.

Echenim, a self-employed man said the medical bill was too much for his family to bear and appealed to the government and good spirited individuals to come to his aid.

“For about seven weeks since the kids were delivered we have been at this hospital. I had registered my wife for ante-natal at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba but because of the strike by doctors, I brought her here for the delivery.

“The kids were delivered through caesarean section and were taken to the incubator where they spent over one month before their discharge. Now the bill has come up to N723, 100.00 and still running because we are still here.

“So I am appealing to the government and the general public for help so that I would be able to bring up the babies in the way of God. We have spent over N60,000 for the nurse who was taking care of the babies at night.

“I have started buying food for them and they take a full can for three days. We buy pampers for N1500.00 which lasts for just three days. This is besides the drugs we have been buying. It is just too much for us, we need help from the public,” Echenim appealed.

He said the triplets were his first set of children since he got married over five years ago, adding that his wife had remained jobless after her graduation from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma in Edo State.