Probe panel 'indicts' NYSC for negligence in Corps member's death

dimeji akinloye

January 2, 2017 7:40 AM

The probe panel accused the NYSC of delay in transferring the corps member to the General Hospital, Gwazo, Kano State.

Ifedapo Oladepo

The National Youth Service Corps negligence led to the death of a youth corps member,

In the report, the panel was said to have indicted the NYSC of delaying the evacuation of Oladepo to the General Hospital, Gwazo, Kano State, until it was too late.

According to Punch, the Special Investigation Panel, headed by a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Ali Amodu, based its report on medical files of the deceased, including evidence from the NYSC officials and the medical personnel at the hospital where she was certified dead.

"Her situation had become unmanageable before she was brought to the General Hospital and that was why they couldn’t manage her any longer.

"She was initially treated for malaria, but the fact is that she wasn’t properly diagnosed. Instead of a proper diagnose, they were treating her for malaria," the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered an independent probe into the corps member's death following a public outcry.

ALSO READ: Time to kill NYSC scheme

The probe panel was said to have interrogated the Chief Medical Officer, Kano General Hospital, Gwazo, and the NYSC doctor that first treated Oladepo.

The source said: "The report of the investigation is being finalised now, but from all indications, there is negligence on the part of the NYSC. They (officials) did not have an experienced doctor in the camp's clinic. It was a youth corps doctor who treated the girl, she was left in the care of a corps doctor.

"That shouldn’t have been the case; an experienced doctor should have treated the girl, not a corps doctor.

"The girl was neglected. From all indications, if the girl had been moved on time to the General Hospital, it would have been a different story.

"They were trying to manage the girl by themselves and her condition deteriorated before they put her in the vehicle on a very bad road. The girl went through the roughest road of her life before she got to the General Hospital.

"The NYSC cannot absolve itself of blame in this case. All the files and reports were thoroughly analysed. It was a case of negligence and the panel established this."

The deceased father, Mr. Wale Oladepo, had also blamed the NYSC officials for his daughter's death.

dimeji akinloye