More than 30 expectant mothers seeking critical antenatal care were left stranded outside the Mother and Child Hospital on Ogombo Road, Lekki, on Tuesday morning, October 13, 2026, following an unannounced facility policy capping daily registrations at 45 patients.
​The operational crisis prompted direct intervention from the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, who ordered the immediate registration and treatment of all affected women.
​Patients who arrived as early as 6:30 a.m. reported being turned away by security personnel and facility attendants, who informed them that the daily limit had already been reached.
​”This is my third time coming here, and every time they tell me that the number has reached 45 and I should go home,” said one affected patient waiting outside the gate. Another expectant mother expressed frustration over conflicting instructions: “They ask me to come early. I got here at 6:40 a.m., and they are telling me the slots are exhausted.”
​Tensions escalated during the morning hours when hospital staff defended the restriction, citing severe administrative and clinical bandwidth limitations.
​As public outcry grew, Professor Akin Abayomi contacted the hospital’s Managing Director, Dr. Femi Aletan, instructing management to immediately halt the daily restriction and attend to every patient on site.
​Addressing the crowd shortly after the directive, a senior hospital official offered an official apology:
​”We are very sorry for what happened here today. We only ask our women to come early so we can finish early. We didn’t say we will only attend to 45 people. Everyone here today will be registered.”
​Following the directive, nurses began processing the stranded patients, though the backlog caused registration and consultations to stretch late into Tuesday afternoon, with several women still awaiting care past 4:00 p.m.
​While hospital management publicly denied the existence of a permanent 45-patient daily cap, medical personnel on-site highlighted severe personnel deficits as the underlying driver of the incident.
​Speaking on condition of anonymity, a medical doctor at the facility, Dr. Sariki, pointed to acute acute staffing shortages caused by high living costs on the Lekki corridor and broader systemic brain drain.
​”Our biggest problem is workforce,” Dr. Sariki stated. “I have to commute from the mainland daily because healthcare workers cannot afford accommodation on the Island. We are severely understaffed.”
​Hospital Managing Director Dr. Femi Aletan echoed these operational pressures, attributing the strain to the widespread migration of medical professionals, commonly known as the ‘Japa’ phenomenon.
​”The mass exodus of healthcare workers from Nigeria to foreign countries is severely impacting our healthcare system,” Dr. Aletan explained. “Competitive salaries and international benefit packages are drawing personnel away. Unless local compensation and working conditions match those offers, holding onto essential staff remains an uphill battle.”
​The Mother and Child Hospital on Ogombo Road remains one of the primary public maternal healthcare facilities serving the rapidly growing population along the Lekki-Epe expressway. Following Tuesday’s intervention, the Ministry of Health is expected to review daily intake workflows across state-run maternal centers to prevent similar disruptions.
