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Family of the late Rivers graduate wants justice three months after
The family of Rebekah Sekidika, a first-class graduate of Benson Idahosa University in Benin, Edo State, has protested the delay in taking the case to court, which occurred three months after Sekidika passed away during a medical operation at "Paragon Clinics and Images" in Port Harcourt.
Remember that just prior to the incident, the 24-year-old microbiology graduate was getting ready to travel to the United Kingdom for her master's degree.
Rebekah's father, Sampson Sekidika, had claimed that the medical staff's "negligence and incompetence" during the procedure caused her death, stating that the deceased patient did not need surgery.
Speaking on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Mr Sekidika, a staff member of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, expressed his disappointment that the case hasn't been brought to court yet, even after the autopsy and toxicology reports were made public. He hopes that justice would be served.
"Recall that when my daughter passed away, the Rivers State Commissioner of Health constituted a panel of inquiry to look into the matter," he said. We were waiting for the autopsy and the toxicology report, which were released three weeks ago, at that point, along with the State Commissioner of Police and all other interested parties.
"The police told us, and based on that information, they requested that my attorney submit for a copy which we did.
"As soon as we obtained a copy of it, we forwarded it to the panel of inquiry established by the Rivers State Commissioner of Health so they could investigate the issue further. The appropriate bodies received additional copies.
"We have also submitted the toxicology report and autopsy to expert reviews, and we have their opinions regarding the cause of death of my daughter," he continued. Thus, I can state with certainty that the cause of death has been established, and the only thing left to do is file a formal charge.
However, the fact that nothing has happened in the three weeks since we last heard from the police is a little concerning. However, I am aware that there are procedures involved, and I am aware that the Police Commissioner and his team will do the needful to take this matter to Court so that we can get the desired justice.”
While justice won't bring his daughter back, the grieving man claimed that it will "bring some sort of closure to the case."
Furthermore, he continued, "It will instill sanity in the medical professionals, causing them to exercise greater caution, as my daughter's death was solely the result of negligence and incompetence."After the case is brought before the court, that issue will be resolved. Additionally, I want the case brought before the court right away. I think that action will be taken, and it is being taken, and I am confident that justice will be served, and that justice will serve as a warning to other medical professionals to exercise a little more caution in their work so that we don't lose any more lives in the course of their practice.”
Dr. Adaeze Oreh, the State Commissioner for Health, responded, "What happened was that when the panel was constituted they called the various parties for an interview as at that time just like a month ago we all gave our testimonies as to what happened." When asked if the panel had released its findings.
"Therefore, we copied the toxicology report and the autopsy as soon as we obtained them and forwarded them to the panel for assessment. We also forwarded copies of the report to the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council for assessment, and the panel chairman acknowledged receipt of it. I'm confident that they have also reviewed it and expressed their professional thoughts.
Thus, all of these procedures are underway, and we further submit it for expert assessment by the doctors and consultants we consulted. They have all thus shared their thoughts and assessments regarding what killed my daughter. We now know what murdered her, and we know that justice will be served.
"I will need the assistance of Rivers State's Executive Governor, Sir Siminalyi Fubara, and his Commissioner for Health to give this a lot of push," he continued.
"In this instance, we don't want any kind of delay or anything that would cause us to worry. I'm not pursuing this issue in an attempt to place blame or declare, "This was, this was." I'm advocating for it to purify the framework.
"Although I cannot bring my daughter back, we must address the underlying issue so that you can be assured that the system will remain sane. However, the court has complete discretion over what to do with everything that arises during the process of restoring sanity, the speaker continued.
He claimed that the family has been traumatised ever since she died on February 2 under mysterious circumstances.
It has been quite taxing mentally; in fact, I've always maintained that I wouldn't even want my adversary to experience this kind of anguish.
"The family and the others she left behind are going through emotional turmoil. I shall thus state that there was nothing wrong with my 24-year-old daughter—she was healthy—when she passed away. That loyal day, I took her to the hospital, and I never came back. It is distressing.