Lagos State Government Begins Probe Of Female Doctor’s Death After NMA Declared Strike

The Lagos State government has set up an inquiry team to investigate the elevator accident that killed a medical doctor, Vwaere Diaso.

The state government in a release on Wednesday, said it received the news of the doctor’s death with shock.

“The state government, especially management and staff of the Lagos state ministry of health, commiserate with the family of the deceased on the unfortunate loss of their daughter who passed on as a result of the mechanical failure of an elevator at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island,” the statement reads.

“An inquiry by a team of officials from the Lagos state ministry of Health, Lagos State Health Service Commission, Lagos State Safety Commission and certified Lift and Vertical Transportation Equipment experts has commenced.

“The Lagos state government will ensure that anyone found negligent by the report of the inquiry will face appropriate sanctions.”

 The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Lagos State announced an indefinite strike, after instructing all the doctors working in the three government hospitals on Lagos Island to down tools in protest of the death of Diaso.

Tens of House Officers at the Lagos State General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island had also protested against the death of Diaso, who reportedly fell to her death from an elevator.

In a video shared on Twitter, the trainee doctors donned black attire and displayed placards with messages demanding justice for their colleague.

Some of the placards read: “The system is rigged against young doctors!!!” “Let doctors breathe. Dr Ovwaere couldn’t breathe.” “A painful death”. “It could have been me.”

The female doctor died on Wednesday in a faulty elevator.

She died two weeks before the completion of her housemanship in a faulty elevator at General Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island.

Meanwhile, the NMA directed its members at the General Hospital, Odan, Lagos; Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos, and the Massey Street Children’s Hospital, Lagos, to embark on the strike.

The NMA made this known in a press statement signed by its state Chairman, Dr Benjamin Olowojebutu, and Secretary, Ismail Ajibowo, on Wednesday.