Deaf woman held hostage by Osun varsity hospital over ₦51,000 unpaid bills

A resident of Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, Abibat Hammed, has been reportedly held hostage by officials of the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, over her inability to pay her hospital bills.

Abibat, a deaf woman who also has an intellectual disability, was said to have delivered a baby at the hospital on Wednesday. Sadly, the baby died after delivery.

The woman, said to be an indigene of Osogbo, was rushed to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital by some leaders of the Nigerian National Association of the Deaf, Osun State chapter when she was experiencing labour.

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Some of the members of the association had contributed money for her hospital admission card, drugs, and other necessities upon her admission.

They said the hospital has asked them to bring a total sum of N51,100 before Abibat would be allowed to leave the health facility.

In an interview with The Guardian on Friday, the chairperson of the deaf association in the state, Omolara Oyebode, called on the state government, civil society groups, and other well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of Abibat, saying she is an indigent person with disabilities who has been abandoned by her family.

Oyebode revealed that the more Abibat stays in the hospital, the higher the bills she would pay, adding that the association had already spent all it had in caring for her.

“I am begging and appealing to you all to please contribute money so as to enable us to pay the remaining hospital bill of Abibat Toyin Hammed before they will discharge her from the hospital. If we don’t pay them on time, they will increase the money,” she begged.