A lecturer serving with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Dr. Daha Tijjani Abdurrahman has accused Makkah Specialist Eye Hospital, owned by Saudi-Arabia-based Al-Basar Foundation, of damaging his father’s eye.
Daily News 24 reports that trouble started on Wednesday when Dr Abdurrahman, posted a lengthy complaint on his social media accounts alleging that an ophthalmologist at the Makkah Hospital had damaged his father’s eye during a cataract removal surgery.
The lecturer wrote that prior to the ill-fated procedure, his father was seeing with both eyes even though he had blurry vision.
According to him” On the 1st of September, my father underwent what was supposed to be routine cataract surgery.
“I had seen this same procedure performed on him back in 2016 on his right eye when he visited me in Malaysia after I completed my Ph.D., and the experience was seamless.
“Confident in the process, I didn’t ask many questions this time, believing it would be as straightforward as before.
“After all, my father had chosen a well-known eye hospital, Albasar International Foundation (Makkah Specialist Eye Hospital, Kano), a facility frequented by patients from neighbouring states. It was also conveniently located just 800 meters from our family home.
“But little did we know that this renowned hospital would soon be responsible for the unimaginable—the loss of my father’s eye.
“To clarify: before this surgery, my father was actually seeing with both eyes. He only had cataract in his left eye, which gives him blurred vision but could still see about 75 percent.
“This is the reality for many people suffering from this problem, but due to financial hardship, they often can not afford treatment.
“My father, like many others, had been waiting for the right moment. He wanted to do the surgery before Maulid. The Maulid he couldn’t attend!
“What we didn’t anticipate was that the hospital, not his condition, would be the cause of irreversible damage.”
Dr Abdurrahman went further to accuse the renowned eye hospital of unprofessionalism, dishonesty and negligence.
“The anaesthesia was administered incorrectly and in brazen violation of standard operating procedure by the opthalmologist himself—not by a qualified anaesthetist.
“My father narrated how the same opthalmologist who examined his eyes also handled the anaesthesia, which is a clear breach of medical practice (according to my research). During the procedure, he felt something dripping down his eye, as if all the fluid was flowing out at once.
“The pain was unbearable. In his own words, my father said, ‘I never knew how death felt, but this pain was just out of this world.’
“By the time the procedure was done, his face had swollen beyond recognition, and what was once just blurred vision had now turned into a severely damaged eye,” he wrote.
‘They deceived my father’
The complainant added that: “The hospital deceived my father from the start. They told him they couldn’t proceed with the surgery because of the complications with anaesthesia and the elevated pressure in his eye.
“What they didn’t tell him was that they had already performed a failed procedure. Instead of informing us of their mistake so we could take immediate action, they sent my father home and told him to return in 3 weeks. A tactical delay manoeuvre!
“A week later, when pain was unbearable, Baba returned to the hospital, and they continued to lie. They said Baba should calm down.. and that his eye was “sleeping” and that it would “wake up” when the eye pressure decreased, at which point they would perform the surgery.
“This was another deceitful delay. When Baba complained that he couldn’t see, the doctor argued that when we sleep, even if the eye is opened, we don’t see.. insisting the eye was asleep!
“Finally, yesterday—15 days after the initial surgery—the hospital admitted the truth. They revealed that they had performed the surgery and that it had failed. Worse still, my father’s eye had become infected, with colored fluid now seeping out.
“The doctor had punctured Baba’s Sclera (the whitish part of the eye) during the unprofessional anaesthesia. This truth only came to light after my brother, outraged by the endless lies, lost his temper and made a scene at the hospital. It was then that they finally admitted what had happened.”
The lecturer then called on Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, the Kano Commissioner of Police, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCAN) and human rights groups to investigate the issue.
“We can not let this go unchallenged. I am sharing this story to prevent others from experiencing the same tragic outcome,” he wrote.
My eye felt like a stone – Patient
On his part, the patient, Malam Tijjani Abdurrahman said in an interview with Freddom Radio that after the botched surgery, his eyes “felt like a stone”.
“At the time I went to the hospital for the surgery, their main doctors were not around so they invited a doctor from Bauchi state who administered the anesthesia that damaged my eye.
“Less than five minutes into the surgery, I couldn’t feel my eye because it had become so swollen and hard like a stone,” he said.
Claims of damaging patient’s eye defamatory – Makkah Hospital
But in its reaction, Makkah Specialist Eye Hospital denied Dr Daha’s allegation, arguing that it had not been given a chance to investigate the issue.
In an interview with journalists on Wednesday, Head of the Hospital Malam Yusuf Ahmadu said the management of the hospital had received a complaint from the patient’s family and had promised to investigate.
“On Sunday, we received a complaint from Malam Tijjani Abdurrahman’s family about the surgery and pleaded with them to give us a chance to investigate.
“But on Tuesday, we just found (Dr Daha’s) writeup circulating on social media, meaning that we have not been given the chance to investigate and make make our report available,” he said.
“All the claims that he (Dr Daha) made are incorrect,” Malam Ahmadu said.
Daily News 24 reports that the Kano Council of Ulama had also attempted to intervene in the issue but the disagreement festered when Makkah hospital threatened Dr Abdurrahman with a defamation lawsuit in a letter.
Retract allegations or be sued – Hospital’s lawyer
The letter signed by one Barrister Ibrahim Umar Abere of Umar Attorney’s and dated 19 September, 2024 read as follows:
“We write on the instruction of Al-Basar International Foundation (operating as Makkah Specialist Eve Hospital) hereinafter referred to as Our Client.
“It is the brief of our client that following the surgery of one of their patients- Tijjani AbdulRahman, some of his family members visited the Hospital claiming they were not satisfied with the outcome mainly because their father lost an eye.
“At the said meeting on Sunday, the 15th day of October 2024, the management of the Hospital promised to carry out an investigation on the matter and get back to them of which a contact phone number was dropped with the Hospital to that effect.
“However, to the utmost surprise of our client, on Tuesday, the 17th day of September 2024 (Being that Monday 16th was a public holiday), the Social Media handles like the Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were full of both English and Hausa versions of your report/publication on the matter which is a confirmed departure from the truth.
“Our Client is not in doubt that your purported claims in the report/publication on the matter are deliberately calculated to Defame its good reputation it has labored to build over a period of 3 decades now with laudable achievements in the field of Ophthalmology because:
“1. You were not among the people that visited the Hospital to make the complaint.
“2. You have not met the management of the Hospital to hear from them yourself.
“3. Some days were given for the response of the Hospital after proper investigation but you breached this and made your report/publication just after some hours of the meeting held with the relatives of the patient. 4. You were not the one that signed the consent form for the surgery and you know little about its implication.
“5. The interval of Sunday and Tuesday the 15th and 17th day of September, 2024 was less than a day in this instance because Monday was a work-free day and you chose and refused to be patient enough to hear the outcome of the investigation promised to be carried out by our client due to your ulterior motive you to tarnish its image.
“6. You are not the patient in question.
“7. It is also confirmed that you are not an Ophthalmologist (Medical Doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases and conditions) to be able to comment or appreciate the specialized medical procedures of the delicate field of Ophthalmology.
“This action of yours has caused our client its reputation and is still causing damages of immeasurable extent and as such we demand the following from you in the strongest of terms:
“a. To immediately pull down/retract the defamatory publication (both in English and Hausa) against our client from the Social Media.
“b. To use the same medium to tender an unreserved apology to our client and in addition, send a hard copy of same to the Hospital.
“That in the event that nothing is done on the above demands, we shall be left with no other option than to take a legal action against you,”
“A grace of 24 hours from the time of receipt of this letter is hereby given to you to act else we shall take action without further recourse to you.”
‘I won’t be silenced’
But quoting the letter on his X account, Dr Abdurrahman said he wont’ be silenced.
“Just because I’m seeking justice for my father, who lost an eye, Makkah Hospital is threatening me with legal action.
“They had the audacity to tell me NOT to speak “Mainly because their father LOST an EYE”.. I refuse to be silent. #JusticeforATA must be served,” he wrote.
It remains to be seen however, how the issue might be resolved considering the new development.
