Triplets Behind-bars in hospital over N723,100.00 medical bill

A set of triplets who were delivered in July, this year, at a private hospital in Asaba, the Delta State capital, and their mother have been detained by the hospital management over alleged inability by the parents to raise N723,100.00 to clear their  medical bills.

The distraught father of the triplets, Mr. Godswill Echenim, told newsmen that he took his wife to the private clinic (name withheld) due to the prolong strike by doctors under the aegis of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in public hospitals.

Echenim, a fashion designer in Owa-Alero in Ika North East Local Government Area of the state, 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 in 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 can bring up the babies in the way of God. We have spent over N60,000 on the nurse who was taking care of the babies at night.
“I have started buying food for them and they take a tin of food for three days. We buy pampers for N1,500.00, 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 said.
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.