N860, 000 Debt: LASUTH Finally Releases Woman’s Corpse To Family

The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital has released the body of the late Fatima Olamide to her family more than a week after she died in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

The sister of the deceased, Latifat, who confirmed this to City Round on Friday, said she would be buried in Ikorodu on the same day.

Olamide was said to have been admitted to the ICU of LASUTH for a terminal illness and underwent surgery but later died on February 14.

Her family had accused the management of the hospital of withholding her body in the morgue over the outstanding bill of N860, 000.

Her father, Shamusideen Shobowale, 64-year-old retiree, had said the family spent about N1m with the support of relations and friends on Olamide’s treatment.

Shobowale, who retired as a head watchman at Ikorodu Senior Grammar School, had lamented that the burial of the deceased according to Islamic rites had been delayed and urged the state government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to his aid.

He also said the family paid N300, 000 out of the N860, 000 the hospital demanded.

It was learnt that the bereaved family was made to sign an undertaking detailing how the outstanding debt would be paid before the body was released.

Latifat said an agreement was reached between the family and the hospital to clear the remaining bill monthly.

“We just left (LASUTH) now (on Friday). The body was released to us at about 5:30 pm. They told us to sign an undertaking that we would pay the remaining money and I did. I said I would pay N50, 000 every two months. We have over N500, 000 left to pay.

“They gave us the document to use to take the corpse. We paid N35, 000 at the mortuary. They said the mortuary fee was N5, 000 and that the amount daily was N2, 500, so they calculated everything and it amounted to N35, 000. We thank God that they have given us the corpse. We are going to bury her this night (Friday) in Ikorodu, in her husband’s house. We appreciate what PUNCH did for us,” she said.

Earlier on Friday, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof Adetokunbo Fabamwo, said though the medical institution was working with the family to sort the issue, there was no way the hospital could be if people incurred expenses and did not pay.

Fabamwo said, “We had a discussion with them and I told them we could have assisted them to raise funds from the public but they don’t have to say we are detaining as if we are wicked. I explained also that the CMD does not even have the authority to wave bills; there is a collecting agency that collects fees in all government hospitals.

“I explained to them that what I could do was to see whether we could work out a repayment plan for them since they were able to pay N300, 000. One of the questions we are asking ourselves is: how did they even get to incur a bill of N860, 000? But that is because we are compassionate. We will not stop treatment because people have not paid their bills. In private hospitals, they would have been sent away. But we did not do that.

“We continued to use consumables and drugs for them, even though they had not paid, to try to save a life. Every citizen of Lagos State is supposed to be insured. If she had had insurance, she would not have ended up in this situation. Insurance would have picked up her bills.”