39-year-old Celestine Uzodike, the husband of a woman who was delivered of septuplets, of which six survived in Anambra State, narrates to IKENNA OBIANERI, the circumstances surrounding the delivery and other issues at hand
Can you introduce yourself?
I am Celestine Uzodike, and I am from Omogho in the Orumba Local Government Area of Anambra State. I am a government worker. I currently reside in Awka. I am married, and my wife has just delivered a set of seven babies, two boys and five girls, but one of the girls did not come out alive.
What is the name of your wife, and when did you get married?
My wife’s name is Ngozi Uzodike; she is 36 years old, and we got married in September 2020.
Where is she from?
She is from Umunze in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State.
Have you had children before the new babies?
We have had none. The seven babies are our first children, and they will be the last.
Has she been pregnant before then?
No. This is her first pregnancy.
Why are you seeking assistance?
The cost of caring for the babies is enormous, and we have exhausted all we have. The babies came out prematurely at 26th week gestation period and the hospital said they will need to be placed under intensive care unit and each of them will cost N3m. One of them has died, leaving six survivors.
Their organs are still developing, and they will need to be placed in an intensive care unit to be given adequate care. I have had a series of meetings with the management of the hospital, and they told me that I should be expecting approximately N19m at the rate of N3.2m per child. This is to care for them for two months. I have spent all I have, and we don’t really know where to get the money from, which is why we are seeking the intervention of the government and every well-meaning individual.
How much have you paid altogether?
We have managed to pay N1.6m out of the N19m billed by the hospital. The hospital is complaining that they are exhausting their oxygen and will need more money to continue; hence, we started seeking assistance.
How did you get to the hospital where your wife gave birth?
Before coming to this hospital, when my situation became critical on Saturday night, we had gone to different teaching hospitals. It became a scary moment for me as we were being referred to the different hospitals, as they were saying they could not handle her situation, until the chief medical doctor of the Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital referred us to the hospital where she finally delivered, and that was around 3am, but we could not move at that time because of the security situation.
We arrived at the Obijackson Women and Children Hospital, Okija, at about 7am and the process of delivery commenced at about 9am. Before the commencement, we did not have the money we were asked to deposit. I made some contacts and rallied some friends who helped make up for the money we used in making the deposit payment.
