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Family blames FEDPOLY Nekede for son’s death, alleges negligence

By Eniola Daniel
11 November 2018   |   4:25 am
Aged parents of Isaac Emmanuel Jeremiah, a Computer Engineering student of Federal Polytechnic (FEDPOLY), Nekede, Imo State, who died on October 11, 2018...

• Sick Son Dumped At Lagos Park Without Escort
• Deceased Only Offered Provisional Admission, We Don’t Have His Records- Deputy Rector

Aged parents of Isaac Emmanuel Jeremiah, a Computer Engineering student of Federal Polytechnic (FEDPOLY), Nekede, Imo State, who died on October 11, 2018, at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), are demanding immediate answers concerning why their 33-year-old son was left unattended to by the school authority, and instead brought to Lagos unaccompanied.

His roommate helped him to board a commercial bus to Lagos from Imo, despite signs he may not survive the life-threatening condition he was in.

Speaking with The Guardian on how his son met his untimely death, Emmanuel Jeremiah Esiet, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State, said: “At around 9pm on Sunday, October 7, 2018, a lady called me on phone asking if I was the father of Isaac Jeremiah, a student at Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State. I said yes, and she told me to come and pick my boy at the express, close to Ewenla School, Oshodi. We rushed down there only to find the boy sitting on a bench by the roadside. We promptly picked him, but he could not talk. From there, we took him home, where we brought in a nurse to attend to him that night.”

According to Esiet, not long after his son was administered drips, he was pressed and so decided to urinate, but what he passed out was blood. “So by Monday morning, after a long night, we took him to a private hospital at Mafoluku, where he was rejected. From there, we took him to Isolo General Hospital, and we were referred to LASUTH, Ikeja. From there, we took him to Gbagada General Hospital, before he was transferred to the University of Lagos State Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, where he died on the night of Friday, October 12.

Essiet added: “My other children were with him, and the hospital requested for blood donation. They flushed everything out and took him to the theatre, but he couldn’t survive the operation after we spent a lot of money there. My son was half dead before he got to Lagos from Imo. Just how could the school authority move such a sick student from Imo to Lagos, by road, unaccompanied and without treatment.”

On if he received any call from Federal Poly Nekede before and after the death of his, he said: “Nobody called me apart from the woman who asked me to come and pick my son, and I don’t even know her name. My son never called to complain about anything, or showed any sign to suggest that his life was in danger.”

According to him, the late Isaac came back home when he finished his National Diploma programme in 2016, had his internship at Swift Network, Lagos, and returned to school in February this year to commence his Higher National Diploma (HND) programme.”

When The Guardian contacted the driver who brought Isaac from school, (his name appeared as Papa Onyinye on True Caller app), he said: “His roommates brought him to the park saying that he was very sick and needed to return to Lagos to take his drugs. That is how I brought him to Lagos.”

Speaking with The Guardian, Deputy Rector (Academics) of the institution, Chuka Chukwuma said, “We have a well-funded clinic where we could have given him adequate care. It’s quite a pity to learn about his death. The outcome of our enquiries showed that he lived off campus, and we don’t have his record for the HND programme because he was only offered provisional admission, and that doesn’t mean he was admitted. It was just provisional.

“But we send our condolences to his parents and I want to assure you that we are willing to help them in anyway. I am also a parent and I know what it means for such an unfortunate incident to happen to anyone,” he said.

The autopsy report conducted by the hospital where Isaac died indicated that the primary cause of his death was “Sepsis with Gastrointestinal Focus,” and the secondary one described as “Cardiopulmonary Arrest.”

Andy, one of the deceased’s roommates who accompanied him to the park said: “I’m his roommate and I escorted him to the park on Sunday October 7, 2018. He’s been sick several times and he recovered. I had even bought malaria drugs for him on some occasions when he fell ill. His parent never called before your call.”

On why he didn’t inform his Head of Department (HoD) about the deceased ill health, he said: “We live off campus, so, it didn’t occur to me to inform the school.”

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