Missing intestine: Lagos Assembly sets up committee to begin probe
The Lagos State House of Assembly has setup an Ad-hoc Committee to probe the alleged missing small intestine of a 13-year-old Master Adebola at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Ikeja.
It would be recalled that Deborah Abiodun, had in a Safe Our Soul (SoS) message via social media reached out to Governor Sanwo-Olu, to appeal to him, as a matter of urgency, to probe the mysterious disappearance of her 13-year-old son, Adebola Akin-Bright’s small intestine.
She claimed the incident occurred while her son was receiving treatment at LASUTH.
But the management of LASUTH in response to the allegations, affirmed that they did not wilfully remove any organ or structure from Debola’s body while performing a corrective surgery, who had been previously operated on at a private hospital in Lagos.
“He (Debola) required extensive optimisation in our facility before a corrective surgery could be carried out. At the surgery, which was carried out by an experienced pediatric surgeon and her team revealed certain strange findings. There is a video clip of these findings. The mother was informed about these findings but she appeared to be in denial,” LASUTH management stated.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has taken over the medical care of Adebola Akin-Bright, a 13-year-old boy, whose small part of his intestines was allegedly missing at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.
Governor Sanwo-Olu on Sunday when he paid an unscheduled visit to Adebola and his mother, Mrs. Deborah Abiodun at the Pediatric Ward of LASUTH, however, pledged to take over his medical care by pulling all medical expertise from LASUTH and other resources to save the boy’s life.
The House commended the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for visiting the patient and footing all medical bills on behalf of the state government.
Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, during the plenary on Monday, described the Governor’s action as a reflection that the government was responsive and caring.
“It shows the Governor is caring for him to have visited mother and the child at the hospital and the promise he made which gives hope. It is commendable,” he said.
Obasa, however, said it was important to have a system in place to ensure a structure that curtails any challenge that affects institutions in the state, adding that it was, therefore, necessary to get to the root of the problem.
An ad-hoc committee set up by the Speaker to investigate the issue has the Majority Leader, Noheem Adams, as Chairman.
Other members are Temitope Adewale, Steve Ogundipe, Hon. Surajudeen Tijani, and Hon. Lawal Aina Musibau.
In his position, the Deputy Whip of the House, David Setonji, commended the Speaker for calling the attention of the lawmakers to the issue, adding, “We need to look more into the health sector of the State.”
Setonji, noted that the House had taken pragmatic steps to pass a law on organ harvesting and that the law has important role to play in the progress of the state.
Gbolahan Yishawu, noted that the importance of the law on organ transplant, adding that organ theft is another area that could be looked into.
Stressing the need to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the case, Olanrewaju Afinni, recalled how, through an ad-hoc committee, the House had been able to unearth more information concerning the elevator accident that killed a medical doctor some weeks ago.
Sa’ad Olumo, applauded the courage exhibited by the mother of the boy for calling the attention of Nigerians to her plight.
Contributing, Desmond Elliot, commended Governor Sanwo-Olu for displaying a sense of true humanity and service.
Supporting the probe, Elliot said, “We have so many people who cannot voice out. thank God the woman did.”
Also, Oladipo Ajomale, who appreciated the Speaker for sharing the video of the woman’s cry with all the lawmakers at the weekend, also appreciated the Governor for visiting the patient.
He urged the National Assembly and other state legislatures to ensure implementable laws on organ harvesting.
