Nigerian hospital leaves man blind after performing surgery for ‘large brain tumour that was never there’

A Nigerian police officer wants his outfit to seek damages from officials of a private hospital in the capital, Abuja, over a wrong diagnosis that has aggravated his deteriorating health.

Dauda Fika was shot by troops of an Army Battalion in Yobe State on April 13, 2017, while serving as the Commander of Mobile Police (MOPOL) 41, a paramilitary arm of the Nigeria Police Force.

He was brought to the Abuja-based Cedar Crest hospital for medical attention where he claims he was misdiagnosed of having a large tumour in his head after he had complained of severe headache and dizziness, reports Neptune Prime.

Fika, who has led many successful counter-insurgency operations in the North-east, fighting Boko Haram, alleged that the doctor at Cedar Crest who performed the MRI scan quickly carried out a surgical operation on his head. After the operation, however, Fika started having an acute migraine and other intense pains.

The surgeon had by then left the country. The Police Force soon stepped in and sponsored the cost of a medical surgery abroad for Fika. There, at a London hospital, doctors told him that he was wrongly diagnosed of having a tumour in his head.

“…contrary to what the Cedar Crest Hospital’s doctor said, I was told by my doctor here, that I never had any kind of tumour in my head. Yet, another surgery was then performed, where the doctors removed an infection which was affecting both my eyes and tooth,” said Fika.

Fika, who has since arrived in Nigeria, said despite the unfortunate surgery that has worsened his health condition, he has no plans of approaching the management of the hospital on his own without directives from the police.

“Though I have since lost my sight, I remain grateful to Allah for keeping me alive. My doctors in London successfully replaced my natural hip with an artificial hip. And right now, I am learning to walk steadily with the support of aid. With time, I will be able to walk unaided, my doctors have assured me of that,” he said.

The Police Service, which financed his operation in London has, so far, been supporting Fika with drugs. Fika, is, however appealing for more support.

“I have to cope with some things for rehabilitation. I need a wheelchair, so that I can use the toilet on my own.

“I will need to convert the house so I can walk in between, like making adjustment to the house. I will also need rehabilitation equipment like dumbells, clutches, Zima frames and others,” he told Premium Times.

Cedar Crest is yet to respond to the allegations. Fika’s situation comes on the back of concerns over several botched operations that have been reported in recent times.

This May, a South African father said that he can no longer adequately provide for his family after what he claimed to be a botched eye operation that left him partially blind.

50-year-old Daniel Chakane claimed he went to Johannesburg Eye Hospital in Northcliff, Johannesburg, for a cataract removal which was done via laser procedure in 2012 and 2013.

Before the procedure, he was able to see with both eyes, but right after, his left eye went completely blind and the right far-sighted. He is now unemployed.

In January, a Kenyan man who developed brain damage due to an operation that went wrong 14 years ago at Nairobi Hospital was awarded Sh44.5 million [$431] by a court.

The parents had sued on behalf of their son, who was 14-years-old at the time of the operation. He sustained hypoxic brain damage due to the negligence of the doctor who administered anaesthesia on him.