Calls for overhaul of Nigeria’s healthcare system after death of Adichie’s toddler

Nigerians have urged urgent reforms to the healthcare sector after the death of the 21-month-old son of bestselling author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In a leaked WhatsApp message, Adichie said she had been told by a doctor that the resident anaesthesiologist at the Lagos hospital treating her son, Nkanu Nnamdi, had administered an overdose of the sedative propofol.

Adichie and her husband, Dr Ivara Esege, have begun legal action against the hospital, accusing it of medical negligence, and the Lagos state government ordered an inquiry. The outpouring of grief has been accompanied by long-standing complaints about Nigeria’s public health sector: underpaid doctors working without reliable power, patients paying for gloves and other basics, dilapidated facilities and nonexistent research departments, the Guardian reported.

Many who can afford it seek care abroad. There is also a dearth of emergency response services; the paper noted that when Anthony Joshua survived a car accident in Nigeria in December, bystanders helped at the scene with no ambulance in sight.

Key Topics

Health, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria, Lagos, Propofol, Medical Negligence