The Vice-President, Commonwealth Medical Association, West African region, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, and the Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Chief Afe Babalola, (SAN), have commiserated with the families and friends of the six doctors that died in an auto accident along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway on Sunday.
The deceased were on their way to Sokoto for the ongoing 56th Nigerian Medical Association’s Annual General Conference/Annual Delegates’ Meeting when their vehicle was involved in a fatal crash.
Enabulele, who is also the immediate past president of the Nigerian Medical Association, acknowledged the contributions of the doctors not only to the Ekiti State health sector but also to the nation’s health sector.
The NMA bigwig, in a statement issued on Tuesday, called on the Federal Government to make provision for the delivery of emergency medical services on the highways in all the states of the federation.
He said, “Since hearing about the tragic death of our six distinguished colleagues along with their vehicle’s driver, we have been unable to hold back tears. These were truly dedicated, diligent, selfless and altruistic Nigerian medical doctors who had made tremendous sacrifices for the care and uplift of humanity.
“These distinguished Nigerians were prepared to make greater contributions and selfless sacrifices not only to their institutions and Ekiti State, but the entire Nigerian health system that is direly in need of quality human health resources.
“Undeniably, this ill-fated auto accident is one too many on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway. We call on the Federal Government to make the delivery of prompt emergency medical services a norm on Nigerian highways and not the exception.
Also, Babalola, in a statement on Tuesday, condoled with the Ekiti State Government, the management of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital and that of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, on the death of the doctors.
Babalola said there was an urgent need for the government to address the spate of road crashes and the attendant losses on the highways.
He said, “In the light of the way accidents occur on our roads in this country and the attendant loss of lives; government must do something concrete to curtail road crashes and the attendant loss in ambulatory and non- ambulatory properties.
“May God grant the Ekiti State Government, EKSUTH, the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigerian as well as the families of the departed the grace and the equanimity to bear the irreparable loss.
Doctors, who spoke to correspondent on Tuesday, said that the sad incident had affected the mood of the participants and other activities at the ongoing annual conference.
A Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Ogunnubi, who described the incident as unfortunate, urged the members of the Ekiti State chapter of the NMA to comfort the families of the late doctors.
Also, the governorship candidate of the Accord Party in the 2015 Ekiti governorship election, Mr. Kole Ajayi, has expressed shock over the untimely death of the six medical doctors.
Ajayi described the accident as an immeasurable loss to Ekiti State in particular and Nigeria in general.
He called on the government to check the rate of accidents on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway as he recalled that several Nigerians had died on the road.
Specifically, he recalled the death of the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi, in an auto accident along the road. The accident also claimed the lives of Ocholi’s wife and son.
Ajayi advised the Federal Road Safety Commission to check speeding along the road.
…I spoke with Aladesanmi before he died – Brother
Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado Ekiti
The atmosphere at the compound of the late Dr. Tunde Aladesanmi of the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, was pensive on Tuesday.
Aladesanmi was among the six doctors and a driver that died on Sunday in an accident involving a 13-passenger bus.
The car conveying them had an accident a few kilometres to Kaduna – on their way to attend the 56th Nigerian Medical Association annual general conference and delegates’ meeting in Sokoto.
Others that died were Dr. Ojo Taiwo of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital; Ekiti NMA Secretary, Dr. Lexy Akinyele; Dr. J. B Ogunseye of the Ekiti State Health Management Board; President, EKSUTH Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. O. Olajide and Dr. Adeniyi James of the FETH, Ido Ekiti, as well as a driver, Mr. Olowookere Ajibola.
Sympathisers were still trooping in and out of the family residence at Araromi quarters, off Adebayo Road, Ado Ekiti, when our correspondent visited the place, on Tuesday.
The wife of the doctor could not be reached. She was too distraught to speak with sympathisers. A man said she had been inside grieving since the news of the death of her husband was broken to her.
But the younger brother of the late doctor, Adewunmi Aladesanmi, was on the ground to attend to visitors.
Recalling his last moment with the late doctor, Adewunmi said he spoke with him shortly before the accident.
“I spoke with him about 2:30pm on Sunday. Shortly after, I could not get to him. I later got him and spoke with him again around 4pm. But around 5pm when I called him again his line had been switched off.
“10 minutes later, I received a call from someone who informed me that the vehicle conveying them to the meeting was involved in an accident.
“Immediately, I went to his house to inform his wife. After sometime, I received a call again and was told that he had died. It was like a dream. My brother was nice and cared a lot for his nuclear and extended families. The family is still in shock.”
As of the time of speaking with Adewunmi, our correspondent noticed five men digging a grave in the compound where the remains of the late doctor would be interred.
The atmosphere at the Shalom Medical Centre, off Adebayo Road, where the late doctor was doing his private practice, was also sombre. All the patients had been discharged even as there was no official on the ground.
Aladesanmi is survived by a wife, three kids and aged parents.
Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Director of FETHI, Lawrence Ayodele, has appealed to the officials of the hospital not to politicise the death of the doctors.
The staff of FETHI, under the auspices of Senior Staff Association, had on Monday staged a protest over the doctors’ death, accusing Ayodele of masterminding the death of the doctors through diabolical means.
Three doctors working in FETHI were among the seven persons that died in the accident on Sunday.
Ayodele said, “We received the tragic death of my colleagues with a deep sense of sadness. This is a trying period for all of us. This is a huge loss to the Ekiti NMA and Nigeria at large. I pray that the good lord will give all of us the fortitude to bear the loss.
“But it marvels me that people could link me with the death that happened in an auto crash in a modern world like this. This is very unfortunate and barbaric because the doctors of other hospitals were involved in this very sad incident.
“Should we now conclude that those that died in EKSUTH and Ekiti State Hospitals’ Management Board were killed by my colleague, Dr. Kolawole Ogundipe, and the state government? What they wanted to do is to heat up the hospital and create an atmosphere of unrest which will not be in the benefit of anybody.”
