Hospital director detained over death of baby

The Director of Hope Clinic Parma Hospital Kumba, Southwest Region, Dr. Jerry Etabong Esua, spent the night at the Kumba Central Police Station, following the death of a 1kg weight baby.

Esua, we gathered, was later released. Controversy is currently raging over the circumstances leading to the death of the baby of a couple from Germany whose names The Post got as Wanki Forchu and Adeline Kimbiwe.

Speaking to reporters recently, Dr. Esua narrated that the mother of the dead baby travelled from Germany to Cameroon against medical advice and on April 6 at 1.00pm, she arrived the health facility fully dilated with ‘signs of eminent labour ‘.

The Director said the next day, the 24-weeks-old baby was delivered with ‘some good signs of life weighing and was immediately transferred into an incubator with all necessary medical action taken for the child’s survival. He, however, maintained that in medical science, delivery at 24 weeks is considered an abortion, but they could not throw away the baby.

Dr. Esua recounted that, from April 6 to 10, the baby was in an incubator and on April 9, the mother of the baby requested to be discharged so that they could go celebrate the funeral of the baby’s grandmother. During this period, the medic said the baby was under the care of nurses until around 4:30am on April 10 that the baby died.

The Director told reporters that the father and grandfather of the child claimed that they visited the health facility at 6:00am on that same Sunday and the child was alive. “We cannot tell how they saw the child when the door was locked. The child was already a corpse in the incubator,” he argued.

Eusa told reporters that between 9:00am and 9:30am, “the father of the aborted baby came and was violent. He beat the nurses, broke the carts and trolleys used to take drugs patients and patients had to run and hide. At this instance, he called the whole family of about 150 people who held the hospital hostage for two to three hours. No patient took their drugs on time.

“The man hit my head, kicked me and was even attempting to kill me. I called the rapid intervention police and the police came and gathered evidence.”

Eusa asked why the family could not accept the fact that they child had died. The medic averred that the hospital did its best and was even trying to go against science, because, a 24-week baby cannot survive. On claims that the child might have died due to blackout, the medic maintained that the hospital has a functional generator, but said that at the time the child died, there were lights in Kumba.

Commenting on the issue, the Commissioner of the Kumba Central Police Station, Wilson Elong Njume Njikang stated that the medic was kept at the police station for his safety.

The police boss said the other party involved was not reacting lightly and so the police had to ensure Esua’s security. Elong disclosed that the family concerned is claiming that the baby was 6 months old in the womb and that the management of Hope Clinic Parma Hospital assured the couple of being able to handle the situation, irrespective of the risk involved.

Elong averred that police investigations have been opened on the matter. Unanswered questions abound as to why the director of the hospital who claims the child died at 4.30am was only informed around 9.00am when he was already in church. Investigators too are expected to unravel if there was light when the child died.

In the meantime, the services of a pathologist are reportedly being sort to determine what killed the child. Attempts by The Post to get the couple comment were fruitless.