Senior medical consultant based in Kano State, Nigeria, has died after collapsing barely 15 minutes of arriving a hospital in Kano State to attend to patients who had been waiting for his evening clinic.
The sad incident happened last Saturday at Arewa Surgery Hospital, Hotoro, Kano, where the doctor reportedly responded to a request to replace another consultant who was unavailable for scheduled appointments.
Suleiman Harbo, an aide to the Jigawa State Governor, who made this public, said he was among the patients’ relatives present when the tragedy unfolded.
Harbo explained that he had taken his elderly mother to the hospital at about 5 p.m. for an appointment with a consultant physician.
On arrival, hospital staff informed them that the doctor originally scheduled to attend to them would not be available and recommended the deceased simply identified as Dr. Ibrahim.
According to him, about six patients, most of them above 80 years old, waited for the physician, prompting him to contact the hospital reception to enquire about the delay.
He said the receptionist reached the doctor by telephone and informed him that elderly patients, including his mother, were waiting.
Dr. Ibrahim reportedly assured them he would come after observing the Maghrib prayer.
Harbo said the consultant arrived shortly afterwards but suddenly became dizzy immediately after stepping out of his vehicle.
He said fellow medical personnel rushed the physician to the hospital’s emergency unit, where doctors battled to revive him.
“Within 15 minutes, he was confirmed dead,” Harbo wrote, describing the incident as shocking and deeply painful.
He added that the development left both patients and medical personnel devastated.
“The painful irony was this: all the patients waiting to see him were above 80 years of age, as about five senior consultant doctors fought to save him, yet all of them broke down in tears,” he said.
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