Mr Ibu narrates how LUTH's negligence lead to his 2-year-old child's death

Nollywood actor, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr Ibu who is known for his comedic acts has opened up on one of the sad details of his life.

The Nollywood actor during an interview with Punch revealed how negligence on the part of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, doctors caused the death of his 2-year-old son.

Mr. Ibu revealed that the incident happened right after his 2-year-old on was released from the den of kidnappers.

He said: “The matter was actually between the Paediatric Department of the hospital and me. It was in 2011. My wife and our two-year-old son had been kidnapped. After I paid the ransom demanded and they were released by the kidnappers, I returned to Lagos from Enugu.

“Then on January 18, 2011, my son fell ill. He was diagnosed with inflammation of the liver. The hospital suggested that he should be scanned. At the same time, I was informed that I could take my son out of the hospital to get the scan done elsewhere. But the same people later declined, saying that everything had to be done in the hospital because he was too weak to be taken outside.

“After a while, I was told that there was no electricity in the hospital. When I asked if there was no standby generator, they said there was no fuel in it. I offered to pay for fuel only to be told that the man that operated the generator was not around. When I left the place and got back later, the man still had not returned. Then I was advised to write an application and to submit to the admin department.”

Mr. Ibu continued that after writing the application, there was nobody to treat it and he later got to find out that his son needed blood transfusion which along with other things were not attended to till the boy eventually gave up.

He said: “That was how my son died. Later, one of the doctors came to me and, without even sympathising with me, asked if I could release my boy’s corpse to him so that they could cut it open and use it to teach other medical students. In that moment, I felt like committing murder for the first time in my life.

“When I told my lawyer what happened at the hospital, he was shocked. He said it was actionable. I told him that I was ready to take the hospital management to court and sue it for $100 million in damages because my son’s death was caused by the carelessness of the professionals whose duty was to save his life. But my lawyer advised me to let g.o.”