By Ado Oyeyemi
A senior consultant physician in Kano State has died after collapsing shortly after arriving at a private hospital to attend to patients who had been waiting for hours for their scheduled appointments.
The tragic incident occurred on Saturday at Arewa Surgery Hospital in the Hotoro area of Kano, where the physician, identified simply as Dr. Ibrahim, had reportedly agreed to stand in for another consultant who was unavailable.
The incident was disclosed by Suleiman Harbo, an aide to the Governor of Jigawa State, who said he witnessed the heartbreaking development while accompanying his elderly mother to the hospital.
According to Harbo, he arrived at the hospital around 5 p.m. with his mother, only to be informed that the doctor scheduled to attend to patients would not be available.
Hospital officials subsequently informed them that Dr. Ibrahim had agreed to take over the evening clinic.
He explained that about six patients, most of them aged over 80, waited for the consultant’s arrival. Concerned by the delay, he contacted the hospital’s reception, where staff reached the doctor by telephone and informed him that elderly patients were waiting.
Harbo said the physician assured them he would report to the hospital after observing the Maghrib prayer.
He added that shortly after arriving at the hospital, the consultant reportedly became dizzy as he stepped out of his vehicle.
Medical personnel immediately rushed him to the hospital’s emergency unit, where several senior doctors made desperate efforts to revive him. However, he was pronounced dead about 15 minutes later.
Describing the incident as devastating, Harbo said both patients and members of the medical team were overwhelmed with grief.
He noted that the irony of the situation was difficult to comprehend, as the elderly patients waiting to receive treatment watched several experienced consultants struggle unsuccessfully to save the doctor’s life.
Harbo also recalled that his mother was initially unaware of the incident and asked whether the doctor had arrived. Before he could respond, another patient informed her that the physician they had been waiting to see had passed away.
He said his mother immediately offered prayers for the deceased, expressing sympathy for the late doctor and deciding to return home without receiving medical attention.
Harbo further disclosed that people who were with the physician during his final moments said his last audible words were, “La ilaha illallah,” the Islamic declaration of faith.
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He prayed for Allah to forgive the late doctor’s shortcomings and grant him Al-Jannah Firdaus.
As of the time of filing this report, the cause of the doctor’s sudden collapse had yet to be established.
