Suspense and anxiety enveloped
residents of a neighbourhood around Bauchi Road, Jos, Plateau State, as Halima
Aliyu, a student of the National Teachers Institute (NTI),
was delivered of a
set of quadruplets in stunning circumstances.
Witnesses said the babies were born alive prematurely in one room
apartment, where Halima, a 29-year-old mother of five before the arrival of the
new babies, and her hubby, Aliyu Useni, aged 30, lived.
They are having the
quadruplets barely three years after being blessed with a set of twins named,
Abduljafaru and Useni. Earlier, the couple had three children, Asamatu, aged
11, Rukaya (9) and Fatima (7), all girls.
Unfortunately, one of the new babies died shortly on arrival at the Jos
University Teaching Hospital, where they were rushed to for medical care.
Even
as doctors confirmed one of the babies dead on arrival, the three who survived
were denied admission as a result of an industrial action embarked upon by
staff of the hospital.
Rejected, the babies born in the early hours of Sunday, March 12, 2017,
were moved to the Plateau Specialist Hospital, Jos, where the parents met
another obstacle.
They were told all the incubators were occupied and thus,
referred to Bingham University Teaching Hospital, also in the Plateau State
capital.
It was learnt that on arrival at Bingham at about 1pm same day, Halima
and her babies were admitted, despite shortage of incubators. Two of the babies
were put in one incubator for hours before they were separated. They reportedly
weighed below 1.025 as at the time of admission at the Paediatric ward of the
hospital, where a team of doctors battled for their survival.
As at last week, two of the babies were said to have been officially
ccertified fit to go home along with their mother, while one was still under
observation in the incubator.
Sadly, however, the distraught parents face another hurdle, as the
discharged babies cannot leave the hospital as a result of lack of funds to
settle the bill, estimated at N300, 000.
“I don’t know where to get such amount of money at this difficult period.
I have a bill of N300, 000 to pay for the two babies, who have been discharged;
I don’t know how much I will be asked to pay for the one that has been in the
incubator for more than one month. Some good Samaritans have donated their
widows’ mite and I appreciate their support towards the survival of the
children.
“I plead with the Plateau State government to come to my aid ,because the
burden is too heavy for me to bear- the hospital bills, feeding and clothing of
the children. I know what I have been going through between 2013 and now,
after I was blessed with a set of twins; I had not recovered from that trauma,
and today, I have quadruplets.
But, God doesn’t make mistake; there are rich men who are looking for
just a child, but don’t have any. I thank God for what He has done, but
sincerely, I need help”, Aliyu, father of the babies, told Saturday
Sun. After his primary education in an Islamic school, Aliyu ventured
into business in 1995, trading in children clothes. Due to lack of patronage,
he dumped the business in 2014 and took a loan from an undisclosed source, with
which he traded in plastic buckets. That too ended abruptly as a result of the
prevailing economic recession.
His greatest challenge at the moment is how to foot the hospital bills
and cater for his wife and eight children. Besides, the rent on his one- room
apartment had expired and he constantly fears the landlord might come knocking
on his door to eject him soon.
Last month, three of his children, Asamatu, Rukaya and Fatima were sent
packing from school for his inability to pay the fees; he made an undertaking
to offset their fees on resumption, before they were allowed to write the
second term examination.
Aliyu, the third and last child of his late father, married his wife,
Halima, in 2005 when she was barely 17 years old. Within a period of 12 years,
she has delivered babies five times, including a set of twins and quadruplets,
all born at home. Interestingly, Aliyu’s late father and his father-in-law,
share something in common. Both came out of their mothers’ wombs in pairs.
Why
we’re being detained –Father
Aliyu Useni, father of the quadruplets alleged that his wife and two
children have been detained at Bingham University Teaching Hospital Jos over
their inability to settle the N300,000 medical bill.
“I am detained in the hospital, because I have not paid all the medical
bill. I have deposited N100, 000 and I am making effort to raise the remaining
money so we can go home.”
When Saturday Sun visited the hospital at about 12pm on Thursday, the
Chief Medical Director was not on seat The Director of Administration,
Barrister Asama, said the CMD, Prof. Edwin Esiegbe, should be contacted for any
inquiries.
Barrister Asama insisted that he would not talk, as he was not a medical
worker.
He said: “It is only when the CMD gives me directive to talk that I will
make comment on this issue and even if he asks me to do, I will have to enquire
before I can comment, because I am not a technician, I only heard that there
are quadruplets in the hospital and I don’t know much about them.”
According to the sun news, efforts to get the Chief Medical Director to speak proved abortive as he
was said to be in a management meeting as at the time of filing this report.
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