Controversy Sparks As NGO Pays Hospital Bill For Critical Patient Allegedly Abandoned By Imo House Member, Ebonine

ThankGod EMEH…

The payment of hospital bill for Mr. Christian Chukwuneke of Njaba local government area of Imo State at Emenike Hospital, Aba Road, Owerri, by a reputable Non-governmental Organization, Uju Charity and Empowerment Initiative (UCEI) would have escaped the media lens as the Foundation’s years of humanitarian impacts in society lacks the pleasure and record of media-hyping its interventions if not that the patient was abandoned at the hospital by his Kinsman who is the Imo House of Assembly Member Representing Njaba State Constituency, Hon. Ozioma Bennett Ebonine, to his God-knows-fate.

According to reports, the patient, an Auto Electrician, was involved in an accident that damaged his knees on 12th August 2020 hence has been bedridden and left to the mercy of pain-killer drugs as the medical attention sought at the time of the incident proved abortive.

Receiving a distress call following an abandonment alarm by the wife of the patient by Hon. Ebonine, the leadership of Uju Charity and Empowerment Initiative, UCEI swung into action to unravel the untold stories surrounding the allegations by visiting Emenike Hospital and settling the accumulated bill of two hundred and fifty-five thousand, hundred and fifty naira only (#255,150.00) upon confirmations that they were asked to sort themselves out.

It was gathered that Hon. Ozioma Bennett Ebonine after a heated argument with the management of the hospital the previous day on alleged exorbitant charges said to be professional treatments and recommendations; discontinued all assured assistance intended for his kinsman at the hospital after he had earlier shown commitment and paid some money including deposit to enable treatment before surgery.

The patient, Christian Chukwuneke, who is 41 years of age, is married with children. His wife has been catering for the family, as well as paying for his medication from her meagre income.

While paying the bill, Chairman, Uju Charity & Empowerment Initiative, Lady Chika Uju, emphasized that one of the core objectives of the NGO is to solidly empower the needy and promote their human rights and dignity, adding that the Initiative is officially registered and recognized hence they are out to change the narratives of NGO interventions.

“On receiving a distress call from the wife of the patient in the early hours of Friday, we rushed down to the hospital and cleared the bill to enable them go back to their home while sourcing for fund for Knees Surgery. Yes, Uju Charity & Empowerment Initiative is geared to affect humanity positively, as well as promote human rights and dignity”, Ambassador Uju stressed.

The patient, Christian Chukwuneke said that he cannot sit, stand, nor walk with his legs due to the paralysis of the knees which the hospital confirmed have been affected by cancer, narrated that a Tipper ran into him when he was coming back from work four years ago and since he has been bedridden due to lack of money for proper medication and surgery.

Chukwuneke who thanked Uju Charity & Empowerment Initiative for paying the hospital bill, solicited help from well-meaning individuals, churches, youth, women organizations and other groups to enable him go for surgery which the hospital approximately estimated to cost over five million naira.

Receiving the payment, Matron, Emenike Hospital, Owerri, Amarachi Amuzie, said the patient has been built up and can undergo surgery, stating that the surgery should have taken place in one of Emenike Hospitals at Asaba in Delta State where they have more specialists/experts if the sum of #5m and above was paid.

She however decried the inhumane traits guised in the humanitarian gestures of the Njaba lawmaker as he claims to have spent seven hundred thousand naira only (#700,000.00) already against the true costs printed and stamped by the hospital while emphasizing the need to build up the patient for surgery to enable him undergo the procedure successfully.

Matron Amuzie stressed that out of the whole bill, the lawmaker only paid three hundred thousand naira (#300,000.00) only and in three batches, whereas the hospital admitted the patient in good fate and commenced treatments in earnest having understood their predicaments.

“The both Knees need replacement and we have built him up and he can go for surgery which will take place in Asaba where we have experts and the surgery will cost not less than #5 million.

The Matron said while the lawmaker could not nail the bill after “outcry of extortion and threats of suing the hospital”, the hospital recommended a “discharge on demand” for the patient as it was the best thing at the point.

“It was bad that the man (the Njaba Lawmaker) who brought the patient here abandoned him because he could not continue to pay for his bills, failing to accept that the patient who has been suffering internal knees infection due to the road accident needs to be built up before surgery. He even threatened to sue the hospital in law court over what he believed were outrageous bills.

“Having had an interface with the Honorable, I discovered that he was not serious to continue the treatment nor the surgery. Uju Charity & Empowerment Initiative is highly commended for the prompt humanitarian intervention”, the Matron narrated.

Responding to the abandonment allegations, the Njaba Lawmaker said he did not abandon the patient, but was angered that the Emenike Hospital after receiving payment could not handle the patient as they claimed earlier, even before x-ray was conducted, threatening to take the hospital to Imo State House of Assembly.

“I was extorted. The hospital charges exorbitantly and the doctors and the management never told me that they cannot handle the case after taking huge money from me. They keep demanding for money for test which was not good. Have you seen where a private hospital cook food for patients and still charge high”, he added.

To reach out to the patient for financial support please call: 09151964055.