A tangled web: the complicated ethics of medical referrals from Nigeria to India

From Nigeria Health Watch Tue May 20 2014, 09:00:00

This thought-provoking piece was contributed by Ifeanyi Nsofor who has just joined the NHW team. Pls share it with every one you know....its worth thinking about before you need to think about it. Please share your perspective on the comments section or by tweeting us @nighealthwatch

Our beautiful daughter was born in August 2009 and weighed 3.4kg. No abnormalities were discovered at birth. However, at 4 weeks of age, we noticed bluish discoloration of her inner lips, sweating while breastfeeding, poor feeding, weight loss and failure to thrive. After a series of investigations which included echocardiography, it seemed certain that she had been born with congenital heart defects ("holes in the heart"). However, we received conflicting diagnoses from a tertiary medical centre and a private diagnostic centre both in Abuja. To say we were worried would be the understatement of the century!! Subsequently, the Paediatric Cardiologist at the government tertiary medical centre in Abuja referred our daughter to MIOT hospital, Chennai, India. At MIOT, the definitive diagnosis was different from both diagnoses we received in Nigeria. The Indian Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon successfully performed an Arterial Switch Operation which closed the defects. Our daughter is now fine and her energy sometimes makes me wonder if perhaps she was given two hearts in India.

Red Fort, Delhi, India. Photograph: Ifeanyi Nsofor

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