Aishat met a triple tragedy on her journey to Lagos for greener pastures, her dream turns nightmare.
According to The Punch, Aishat is a 16-year-old girl that was gang-raped by four men at a motor park in Ijesha, Surulere, Lagos, after being abandoned by her guardian.
The rape resulted in pregnancy, as she roamed the motor park for shelter. She is an indigene of Oyo State.
According to report, she had slept in different shops until the pregnancy attained an advanced stage. She was then referred to welfare workers.
Aishat was taken to the Mother and Child Care Centre, Gbaja, an arm of the Randle General Hospital, Surulere. She delivered her baby through a caesarean section.
It was learnt that she was being prepared to be taken to a government home when the result of her coronavirus returned positive.
She was then transferred to the Gbagada Isolation Centre.
In a video where she was being interrogated by some women, who are worry that she had not been able to produce breast milk to feed her baby since she delivered.
Aishat said, “I got pregnant through rape by four men. I gave birth at Gbaja. I stayed in the Ijesha motor park. I was raped there. I know the rapists. I gave birth through operation.”
The lady filming the video said, “Her breast is not bringing out milk. No food (for the baby). We have been here trying to help this girl. The baby was born through an operation; it’s a baby girl.”
Another woman at the isolation centre narrated how Aishat was brought to Lagos from Saki, Oyo State, by a woman who “picked her from her parents when she was small.”
She stated, “The woman promised to hand her over to the person she would be working with. When they got to Lagos, the woman left her at the motor park and said she was coming.
“But the woman did not return. While she was roaming around, she slept in a bus, where she was gang-raped by four men. After being gang-raped, she had no place to go; she was still going round the motor park where she always saw the people who gang-raped her.
“She was sleeping inside shops during the time she was pregnant before she was taken to the Gbaja hospital.”
It was also gathered that the Maternal and Child Care Centre, Gbaja, where Aishat was delivered of her baby had been in state of confusion.
This is because no fewer that 30 health workers were exposed to Aishat during delivery.
Workers were all mandated to continue working after the result of the test conducted was revealed.
A medical worker in the hospital, who talked in anonymity alleged that the Medical Director of the Randle General Hospital, Dr. Aduke Odutayo, sneaked Aishat out after getting her test result.
According to the source, “The girl was originally directed to the hospital through the Ministry of Women Affairs, where her case was first reported.
“The ministry then informed the permanent secretary of the Health Service Commission. The permanent secretary later spoke to the Randle General Hospital MD, who gave instructions to the Head of Department, Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
“An emergency caesarean section was done on the girl without any personal protective equipment. That has been the status quo in the hospital since the beginning of the COVID-19; nobody has PPE.
“After delivery, she spent 10 days at the Maternal and Child Care Centre on admission, where various doctors and nurses attended to her.”
Another source claimed that the plan was to take Aishat to one of the shelters of the government, but the management of the centre insisted that she must undergo a COVID-19 test first.
The result then turned positive.
The source said, “The MD, in collaboration with the HoD, sneaked her out of the hospital without the workers being aware of her COVID-19 status. That was how she got to the Gbagada Isolation Centre.
“The ambulance they used in conveying her was taken far away from the hospital. They used a private car to get her from the hospital to the COVID-19 ambulance.”
It was also learnt that after the news of the incident spread, the hospital workers, including theatre nurses, anesthetists and doctors, who had contact with her were apprehensive.
Eight of them were later tested positive
According to the source, “The same day they did their tests, they were asked to return to work even when they had not seen their results. They were threatened that they could lose their jobs if they did not return to work.
“The workers were aggrieved that the result of the girl was hidden from them. Those, who tested positive, have been asked to go to the isolation centre.”
Also, the MD of the Randle General Hospital, Odutayo, declined reaction on the incident.
In a statement by the Ministry of Youth and Social Development on Sunday, Government said it was working with the officials of the Lagos State Health Management Agency to manage Aishat’s case.
Mr. Segun Dawodu, the Commission for Youth and Social Development, established that both the mother and child will be placed in a place where care would be given to them after they are discharged from the isolation centre.
He advised that parents and guardians should always take care of their of their children, especially the female child, noting that they are vulnerable to different vices in the society, especially with rape cases on the increase.
He asked parents to stop handing over their children to strangers, who take them to cities and use them as housemaids, or for other unscrupulous purposes.
the LASHMA acting General Manager, Dr. Emmanuella Zamba, added that the agency would enroll both the mother and child in any state government health facility closer to the residence provided for them by the government.
The Coordinator of Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, disclosed that Aishat’s video was recorded by another COVID-19 patient at the isolation centre.
She added that efforts are underway to reunite her with trusted family members.
She said, “The police have already commenced investigation into the sexual violence allegation.”
