Sickle cell patient held hostage over unpaid bills dies in Anambra hospital

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ILLEGAL PRISON OVER A CIVIL DEBT.

Sickle cell patient held hostage over unpaid bills dies in
Anambra hospital

A sickle cell patient who was held hostage by a mission hospital
in Anambra State for more than a year over unpaid hospital bills,
on Monday lost her life while still waiting for her freedom.

Information gathered by News Express has it that the deceased,
Onyinye Ezeanyika, was prevented from leaving the hospital by the
management following the inability of her family to settle her
bills which amounted to N1.2 million.

Disclosing this in a telephone interview, the Coordinator of
People Living With Sickle Cell Disorder (PLWSCD), Mrs. Aisha
Edward, regretted the passing of Onyinye.

She recalled advising her to abscond from the hospital at a time
she sneaked out from the hospital about a month ago to see her and
show her the hospital bill.

Her words: “I had given her money then, and even advised her to
escape from the hospital. But when the hospital found out she had
visited me, they threatened her and instilled fear in her, and
since then, my daughter has not been herself.

“She even told me that the hospital intended to keep her until
Christmas, when philanthropists usually came to redeem the bills of
indigent patients. So you can see the motive behind her being
detained by the hospital.”

While expressing disappointment that a missionary hospital was
involved in such action, Mrs. Edward noted that hospitals were now
using sickle cell patients to make money by charging them
exorbitant amounts of money and counting on philanthropists and
other organisations to visit and offset the bills. She said that
she had called the deceased the previous day, asking her to join
them in Onitsha where an NGO donated some food items but she
declined, saying she was in pains.

She added: “I even brought some foodstuff back, which I hoped to
share among those members who could not make it to Onitsha, but to
my shock this morning, I received a call that she had died.

“Now that she has died, the hospital can sell her corpse to be
able to get the money she was owing them.”

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