Worsening conditions of medical practice raise concern among Nigerians

...as Adichie’s son’s death ignites fresh controversy 

A series of  disturbing  cases of allegations of medical negligence and malpractice including the death of  famous writer  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 21-month-old son, has sparked a fierce debate about patient safety within Nigeria’s healthcare system.

Adichie has imputed  medical  negligence to  the circumstances surrounding the death of her 21-month old son, Nkanu Nnamdi, who  breathed his last  on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, after being administered with anaesthetics for a procedure. According to findings by the hospital management, the staff involved had injected the patient with an overdose of the substance.

Adichie’s media  handlers had confirmed  to journalists that the renowned author had, indeed released a  statement detailing the incident.

In the statement, Adichie stated that her son was taken to Euracare Hospital for an MRI scan and the insertion of a central line, during which he was sedated but was not properly monitored after being administered propofol, leading to complications including loss of responsiveness, seizures, and cardiac arrest.

She  noted that her son “would be alive today if not for an incident at Euracare Hospital on January 6th,” where he was taken for medical procedures.

She said that her family had been in Lagos for Christmas when her son developed what they initially thought  was a cold, which later “turned into a very serious infection.”

“We were in Lagos for Christmas. Nkanu had what we first thought was just a cold, but soon turned into a very serious infection, and he was admitted to Atlantis Hospital.

“He was to travel to the U.S the next day, January 7th, accompanied by travelling doctors. A team at Johns Hopkins was waiting to receive him in Baltimore. The Hopkins team had asked for a lumbar puncture test and an MRI,” she said.

Best Not Enough

According to her, Atlantis Hospital referred them to Euracare Hospital, “which was said to be the best place to have the procedures done.”

“The Nigerian team had also decided to put in a ‘central line’ (used to administer IV medications) in preparation for Nkanu’s flight. The morning of the 6th, we left Atlantis Hospital for Euracare, Nkanu carried in his father’s arms.

“We were told he would need to be sedated to prevent him from moving during the MRI and the ‘central line’ procedure. I was waiting just outside the theatre. I saw people, including Dr. M, rushing into the theatre and immediately knew something had happened,” she stated.

Adichie  stated that she was later told her son had been administered an excessive dose of propofol by the anesthesiologist.

“A short time later, Dr. M came out and told me Nkanu had been given too much propofol by the anesthesiologist, had become unresponsive and was quickly resuscitated,” she said.

She stated that her son was subsequently placed on a ventilator, intubated, and admitted to the intensive care unit, after which he developed seizures and suffered cardiac arrest.

“But suddenly, Nkanu was on a ventilator; he was intubated and placed in the ICU. The next thing I heard was that he had seizures. Cardiac arrest. All these had never happened before. Some hours later, Nkanu was gone,” she said.

Adichie further alleged that her son was not monitored after being sedated and described the anesthesiologist’s actions as criminally negligent.

“It turns out that Nkanu was never monitored after being given too much propofol. The anesthesiologist had just casually carried Nkanu on his shoulder to the theatre, so nobody knows when exactly Nkanu became unresponsive.

“How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him? Later, after the ‘central line’ procedure, the anesthesiologist casually switched off Nkanu’s oxygen and again decided to carry him on his shoulder to the ICU!

“The anesthesiologist was CRIMINALLY negligent. He was fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child. No proper protocol was followed.”

She said the family brought in “a child who was unwell but stable and scheduled to travel the next day” for what she described as “basic procedures,” but lost him unexpectedly.

Too Late to Cry

Following the  public outcry and the anger that enveloped the nation over the avoidable death, the health minister had admitted “systemic challenges” and  disclosed  the creation of a national task force on “clinical governance and patient safety” to improve the quality of care and patient safety.

The  hospital in the eyes of the storm had extended its “deepest sympathies,” but in a statement denied any wrongdoing, stating its treatment met international standards.

Weighing in, the  Lagos State Government had  ordered an investigation into the death, as public  anger spread over the state of healthcare in the country.

Issues of medical negligence  has become part of  furniture  of health sector, and is one of the compelling challenges. These high-profile cases have given voice to widespread grievances that often go unheard.

Many Nigerians have borne their agonies in silence inflicted by an uncaring and atrocious medical delivery system that has lost of modicums of the Hippocratic oath to protect life, as the quest for money and other considerations assume the priest position in the heath sector.

A Floodgate of Ordeals

A few days after the Adichie saga, anger resurfaced  once more after the death of Aisha Umar, a mother of five, who ran a business from home, selling incense and fish in  Kano.

According to her  family account,  a pair of surgical scissors was left inside her abdomen during an operation in September at the state-run Abubakar Imam Urology Centre, leading to four months of severe pain and her eventual death.

“For four months, they only gave her pain relievers,” her brother-in-law, Abubakar Mohammed, told  journalists.

“Scans finally showed the scissors were inside her,” he said.

The family says they plan to sue the facility for negligence.

The Kano State Hospitals Management Board said it had “suspended three personnel directly involved in the case from clinical activities with immediate effect”, and has referred the case for further investigation and disciplinary action.

“The Board reassures the public that it will not condone negligence in any form and will continue to take decisive actions to safeguard the lives, dignity, and trust of patients across all state health facilities,” a spokesman added in a statement issued on 13 January.

Her story is similar to Mr. Odebiyi’s, who informed Business Hallmark that “it was divine intervention that saved his wife. “My wife had gone for surgery, and after it, we noticed severe pain in her abdomen that did not abate. It became life -threatening that we had to rush her to Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital in Zaria from our base in Kachia. When we got there, we discovered that the problem was scissors forgotten in her abdomen. We thank God she didn’t die.”

Ajoke Tanimola, a trader in Sango Ota told Business Hallmark that “My daughter nearly died as a result of medical negligence. After an operation to remove tumour, two days after she started experiencing abnormal pain, a nurse examined her and found nothing, advising that we should take her back to the hospital. It was there that a senior consultant discovered that a blade had lodged in her flesh, the doctors that operated on her had mistakenly forgot to remove the blade after the initial operation.”

A senior journalist was prescribed with drugs from stroke patients that almost turned him to a vegetable when visited the teaching hospital for minor contractions on the neck, it took quick to reduce the complications that almost worsened his condition.

Lagos-based products manager, Josephine Obi, 29, gave account of  how her father died in 2021 at the state-run Lagos University Teaching Hospital after what she says was a surgical error during a routine procedure for a goitre – a lump or swelling at the front of the neck caused by a swollen thyroid.

“They cut a major artery… it was a very minor surgery,” she said.

She said a supervising doctor apologize, admitting a mistake had been made. The family chose not to sue to avoid a potentially costly and protracted legal battle.

“You will just waste money and the case will linger… we just let it go,” Obi said.

In Kano, prison facility officer, Abdullahi Umar, is yet to recover from  his wife, Ummu Kulthum Tukur’s death.

She allegedly died three years ago at the age of 27 after giving birth to twins at the state-run Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.

According to him,  a timely Caesarean section would have saved her life.

“She was in labour for over 24 hours… she lost a lot of blood and died,” he said, adding that the hospital still refuses to provide a death certificate.

Dr. Joe Abah, a former boss of Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Service Reforms, claimed on social media platform X how a private hospital in the nation’s capital, Abuja, urged him to undergo immediate surgery for an ailment. Unconvinced, he sought further opinions, including consultations abroad, which concluded no surgery was necessary, he said.

Private vs Public Hospitals

Complaints about treatment in Nigeria’s private hospitals are becoming rampant, though rare  before; although that is where Adichie’s son was treated. They generally have a better reputation than government-owned hospitals, but only a minority can afford to go to them.

“Private hospitals are out of the reach of many Nigerians because they are expensive but without doubt offer better care compared to government-owned hospitals, which carry more load and have manpower and equipment issues,” Dr  Adeshina Adebo, who works at a public hospital, told Business Hallmark.

Many wealthy Nigerians also go abroad for treatment, including President Bola Tinubu and his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, who died in a clinic in London in 2025 after he stepped down from office.

Dr Mohammad Usman Suleiman, president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (Nard), said recently that  the issues were “systemic” and that blaming individuals without addressing the wider problems, such as a lack of doctors and equipment, was futile.

“Clinical governance needs to be stepped up. In Nigeria, what we have is individuals being blamed for a systemic problem,” Suleiman said .

“If you take six to seven surgeries… eventually, you are exhausted. No doctor wakes up wanting to harm someone.”

What The Data Say?

Two separate surveys last year – from the African Research Journal of Medical Sciences, and NOIPolls – found that around 43% of Nigerians had personally experienced or witnessed a medical error, or near-miss. About a third of patients experienced additional injuries from treatment.

Medics and analysts say Nigeria has a very low doctor-patient ratio, worsened by a massive “brain drain” as health professionals emigrate after being enticed by better working conditions abroad.

Remaining health workers sometimes juggle multiple jobs and often go on strike to demand higher salaries, and improved conditions.

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) says about 15,000 doctors have left the country in the past five years. Its president, Dr. Bala Audu, estimates the ratio is now one doctor to 8,000 patients, far lower than the recommended rate of 1:600.

“An imbalance of over 8,000 patients to one doctor increases overload and stress, which leads to mistakes,” public affairs analyst  Otunba Kingsley Adejumo told this medium.

Nigeria’s health system is buckling under these pressures, Adejumo noted

Inadequate funding  has seen the federal government allocate only about 5% of its budget to health, far below the 15% target set in 2001 by the African Union to improve medical services across the continent.

Announcing the creation of the national health task force, Health Minister, Prof. Muhammed Ali Pate, noted in a statement that “Nigeria’s healthcare system faces systemic challenges” in delivering consistent quality care and ensuring patient safety.

“The quality deficits are observed at all levels (public and private) with reports of frequent misdiagnoses, inadequate provider-patient interaction, and lack of care continuity,” he said.

The minister added that “the high rates of preventable medical errors, lack of accountability mechanisms, fragmented service delivery, and limited workforce capacity” had led to calls for stronger national oversight.

The task force will oversee, monitor and drive efforts to integrate quality and patient safety into all areas of healthcare delivery nationwide. It will operate for an initial period of 12 months, with the option of a renewal.

While this will be welcomed by many Nigerians, they will want to see the results in the country’s clinics and hospitals before they can be convinced that no other patients will become tragic symbols of a national crisis.

Just before he died, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN,  granted  an  interview about his health. He said:

“Before now, the doctors diagnosed wrong things. The doctors were looking at my usual ailments, high blood pressure, my heart and so on. They never thought I could have lung cancer since I don’t smoke or drink.

“Finally, when I was feeling the pain seriously, by January 2007, after January 15, it was terrible. I called the doctor, he tested me and said it was lubanimonia.

“It was my cardiologist and childhood friend Dr. Mike Fadayomi, who discovered the my lung was the problem and sent me to U.K. He directed me to a radiologist to do the X-ray first. After that,  he (radiologist) came with the wet X-ray and showed it to me and Fadayom,

who shouted that my left lung is bad. He said something dangerous is wrong with your left lung. He said “Gani you must run to London. I don’t understand this.”