IFEOMA ONONYE 
‘Medicine After Death’. Those are the words that best describe governments’ approach to solving issues surrounding the death of citizens carelessly lately. Greatness Olorunfemi, a victim of commuter bus robbers, popularly called ‘one- chance’ operators, died recently after an Abuja hospital allegedly refused to attend to her.
That is another critical example of how the Nigerian system can fail to save its own people at their most critical time. According to an X user, #Gbemilekhe, who shared the story on few days back, the hospital in the Maitama area of Abuja asked for a police report before treatment could commence. Olorunfemi sadly passed on moments later.
“Greatness was pushed out of a moving vehicle by one-chance criminals in Abuja. “She was rushed to Maitama General Hospital, and they refused to attend to her, demanding a police report. She died afterwards,” the tweet read. One #Nwaadaz on X, who claimed to be a friend of Olorufemi, shared more details of the sad incident, saying the assailants stabbed Olorunfemi, who bled to death after the hospital rejected her.
“Maitama General Hospital refused to attend to my friend, who was stabbed by a one-chance driver in Abuja. They left her to bleed to death and locked the emergency ward against her because she didn’t have a police report!! Nigeria has failed Greatness! the user tweeted.
Presently, Greatness Olorunfemi’s unfortunate death is one of the trending topics in the news as the Senate summoned the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike; the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Minister of Health, Ali Pate, compelling their appearance before the committees on Health and Police Affairs.
Furthermore, Wike, Egbetokun and Pate were tasked to conduct comprehensive awareness campaigns regarding the Gunshot Act of 2017, a legislation enacted during the tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Incidentally, Olorunfemi is not the first victim to die because hospital demanded a police report before commencing treatment, neither will she be the last.
But alas, it takes one death to go viral before attention is drawn to how bad the system has become. A social activist, who gave his name Olufemi Oredugba, told Sunday Telegraph that Olorunfemi’s case is similar to that of the late music singer, Mohbad. He stated that Mohbad made a police report explaining that someone was after his life but nothing was done by the authorities to find out how critical his report was until his death.
“Now the police, and the government are running from pillar to post to find the culprit. They are both avoidable deaths but as usual, Nigerian system is wired to only function after people have died and buried,” he said. Senator Ekpenyong, in presenting his motion, condemned the actions of the medical personnel at Maitama General Hospital and called for a thorough investigation into Olorunfemi’s death.
He emphasised that the consistent denial of treatment to gunshot victims is in direct violation of the provisions set forth in the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshots Act, 2017. He also quoted section 3 of the Act which states “No gunshot victim shall be refused immediate and adequate treatment whether or not an initial monetary deposit has been paid ” .
A report stated that the action by the hospital’s management contradicts the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017, which mandates the treatment of gunshot victims and imposes a penalty of N50,000 on anyone who refuses to comply with the Act. During the debate on the motion, the majority of senators voiced their support for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Olorunfemi’s demise.
Until her demise, Olorunfemi was a community developer and member of the Young African Leaders Initiative Network. Her father in an interview on Thursday said that his daughter planned to travel to the United States of America to commence her PhD in Microbiology.
