By Fred Chukwuelobe
Ace novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie lost her son, Nkanu, to Nigeria’s failing healthcare system. She will forever regret returning home to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. More disturbing is that what she now describes as “criminal negligence” by an anaesthesiologist occurred at the highbrow Euracare Hospital in Lekki, Lagos. Worse still, such negligence has become commonplace, and nobody is held accountable or sanctioned.
If one of the country’s supposedly best hospitals could do this to Nkanu—who walked in with a common cold and left as a corpse—one can only imagine what ordinary Nigerians endure in lesser facilities. Adichie and her husband could afford the best hospitals anywhere in the world. What they could not afford was to be in a country that has persistently failed to prioritise the health of its citizens.
Every day, we read of public officials travelling abroad for medical care. Some even return as bodies. Yet no serious effort is made to build a healthcare system capable of treating Nigerians at home.
I once sought an MRI at Euracare after a referral by Prof. Kingsley Ekwueme. I was told to wait three months because materials had to be imported from Turkey and that existing slots were already booked. When I later read Adichie’s account of her son’s death, I shuddered. What if…
More troubling are two stories about the hospital: the alleged “revolving door” through which bodies are ferried out, and the rapid turnover of medical staff. Management claims to hire top professionals, yet many leave within months and japa, despite being “reasonably well” paid.
I grieve for Chimamanda. I grieve even more for ordinary Nigerians. Former President Muhammadu Buhari spent extended periods in London hospitals while in office. President Bola Tinubu rarely stays three months without embarking on a so-called “working vacation”—often medical tourism by another name. Meanwhile, the healthcare system continues to collapse.
Lord, have mercy.
It is the Adichies today. Who will it be tomorrow? If even those who can afford the world’s best healthcare cannot find safety in Nigeria, the poor have nowhere else to turn.
