The House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Matters has vowed to take legal action against the Italian government and the Nigerian Embassy in Italy over the disappearance of kidney of a Nigerian resident in Torino, Italy, after visiting a hospital with complaints of fever.
The House Committee, chaired by Rita Orji, representing Ajeromi Ifelodun Constituency of Lagos State, also frowned on the attitude of Nigerian government towards the welfare of Nigerians living abroad and called for a change of heart by the government.
The legal action, she explained in an interview in Abuja, was in respect of a female Nigerian resident in Torino, Italy, and mother of one from Edo State, whose name was simply given as Madam Julie, who had gone to a hospital in Torino, complaining of fever.
She said after being administered drugs, the female patient became paralysed, while her kidney also disappeared in a controversial manner.
According to the lawmaker, Madam Julie is now bedridden and cannot even walk with her two legs again, while the Nigerian Embassy in Italy felt unperturbed over the predicament of a Nigerian national that had gone to Italy in search of greener pasture.
The ordeal
Explaining the ordeal of the woman, Orji said: “The outcry was about a woman named Madam Julie who is in Italy as a lawful Nigerian. She got sick, the sickness is just two percent increase in body temperature.
“Knowing full well that the normal temperature is 37 degree Fahrenheit, hers was 39 and she moved to a hospital for a check-up. On getting to the hospital in Torino, she was told that it was a minor fever.
“She took the drugs given to her, after they conducted a test, she received her test result and went home with the drugs.
“After taking the drugs for one week, she came back to report how she was feeling and on the day in question, she was asked whether she came alone, and she said yes innocently without knowing the reason that question was put across to her.
“As she was given a room to rest, they said they want to give her an injection that will lead to the completion of the healing process of the fever. That marked the beginning of her paralysis.
“She was asked to lie down. Within two, three minutes, she was approached with a mixture in a cup and she drank it, believing that was for the fever she complained of, she drank it and became dizzy and she was telling them, oh my eyes are turning me, they said no problem.
Her legs and hands tied
“Suddenly, they laid her down and the team of doctors came around and tied her legs and her hands on the bed and she started shouting, why are you tying me? She raised alarm.
“One of the doctors responded, saying ‘if you like shout at top of your voice, nobody will know what is happening here.’ That was how they laid her face down and gave her injection on her base bone. After giving her the injection, she passed out.
“When she finally came up, she saw the lower part of the buttocks opened to where the bones were cracked and pieces of bone were fallen from there. Her bladder was disengaged from the source and urine was passing out uncontrollably.
“That marked the beginning of the story. This issue, this statement, this action took place end of 2008.”
More infuriating and disturbing to the lawmaker was that after allegedly causing Madam Julie to be paralysed, she was dumped at a mad peoples home where she was given drugs meant for mad patients, while the Nigeria Embassy felt unconcerned.
Attitude of Nigerian govt
She said: “Do we really have protection as Nigerians abroad? Do we really value life? Do we really understand the meaning of having an ambassy in any country? What is the role of the Nigeria Embassy wherever it is established?
“A Moroccan died in Italy, within the time I went, it was the king of Morocco that came to verify the fact leading to the death of the woman. So important, so critical that they value the lives of their citizens. When investigations were thoroughly done that the woman died a natural death, they took the corpse home.
“Today, how many Nigerians are being dropped into the sea? How many of them are being buried without the consent of their families? How many of them are subjected to this inhuman treatment as meted out on Julie?
“Somebody that walked into a hospital for a check-up and ended up in a paralytic bed. Allegation of madness and stuffs like that, I want Nigerians to know that we are not safe.
“If the embassy is not ready to work for Nigerians, we don’t have a reason allocating any funds to them; we don’t have a reason having them over there.
“Because assuming they intervened when this poor woman submitted her result that this is what I brought from the hospital before they gave her injection, we would have saved her from getting this paralysis.”
On whether the kidney was removed
On whether the kidney was removed, she said: “Well, substances were pulled out from the kidney. The scan result which we conducted as we went there, proved that. The record is with us.
“It is not just that somebody is alleging that something happened to her. No, the result is with us, we are ready to tender it anywhere we are called upon.
“They were pulled from there, the bladder was yanked off in the process of tampering with the kidney, that is why the urine is uncontrollable.
‘’At a stage, she was passing blood. This was a healthy person before visiting the hospital. Even after our visit, Embassy officials have never gone to see the woman till today.
Remedy
On what should be done to remedy the situation, she said: “The action that will satisfy me is number one, the whole world will notice the injustice and I want you to know that there is no compensation that is equivalent to what the woman has passed through.
“The foreign affairs, Nigerian President, everybody that is in this country have to rise to the defence of this young woman. I don’t think there is anything anybody can do for me to make me happy than to see this woman walk on her legs again and come back to the human being she is.
“I am saying that there will be a holistic compensation. And second, the team should take a medical analysis of her situation and proffer the best solution to take care of her. – Vanguard.
