Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has expressed sadness over the death of the 12-year-old boy with missing intestines, Adebola Akin-Bright.
Akin-Bright, whose small intestines allegedly got missing while undergoing treatment, died on Tuesday evening, just when arrangement was in top gear to fly him abroad for further treatment.
His death was confirmed by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) on the its official X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday; noting that arrangements were already at an advanced stage to transfer him to the Great Ormond Street Hospital in the United Kingdom before his eventual demise.
The deceased’s ordeal became public when his mother, Deborah Abiodun, cried out in a viral video over the critical situation of her son.
She narrated that her son had a surgery in March in a private hospital at Ile-Epo in Lagos when he had a ruptured appendix and that three months after the surgery, he came down with a complication of intestinal obstruction. He was taken back to the same hospital where he was operated upon again.
“Seven days after, there was still leakage from the intestine, so the doctor said he was going to bring a professor from LASUTH. We got to LASUTH on the June 14 and another surgery was carried out in him on July 17. After the surgery, the lead surgeon called to inform us that they did not see a small intestine in my son’s body.
“I was shocked and I asked how? What happened to the intestine? When did it get missing? Those are the questions I have been asking and none of the doctors in either the private or government hospital has been able to provide an answers.”
Responding to the need to save the life of the boy, Governor Sanwo-Olu during a surprise visit to the hospital, promised to do everything humanly possible to save Akin-Bright’s life, unfortunately, he died amid intervention.
In his condolence message, Sanwo-Olu described his death as a painful loss, not only to the deceased family and friends, but also to him personally and the entire State, considering the efforts made by the Lagos State Government to save him.
The Governor sympathised with the late Akin-Bright’s family and friends, especially his mother, Mrs. Deborah Abiodun, who did all she could and went the extra mile as a mother to save the life of her son. He also commended the medical team of LASUTH, who treated him for several months.
“I had close contact with Akin-bright and his mother a few days ago at LASUTH and I was committed to doing everything humanly and medically possible to save him. The medical team at LASUTH did everything possible to save the boy. They gave him the best medical care based on our collective commitment to save him but we lost him on Tuesday night.
“His death is a painful and personal loss to me because of my commitment in conjunction with the medical team to save the boy. Akin-Bright will be missed by his family, especially his beloved mother, Deborah Abiodun, who did what is expected of a true mother to save a child. I pray that God will give her and the entire family the grace to bear the irreplaceable loss.”
