The man facing a barrage of criticisms from purple-uniformed midwives had the person on the other end of the phone line give his word that he would help find the money.
The man would later abscond after he was told the huge amount he needed to pay besides the deposit of N27,000 he was trying to source for his wife to be wheeled to surgery.
Abandoned to heat and noise in a ward on one side of the hallway, where a line of crowded gatch beds pushed close to the wall made it impossible for two people to pass at a go and made the air sticky, the wife told the doctor she had not eaten since the previous day. She was later allowed to undergo a surgical procedure on compassionate grounds, in which the child was prematurely delivered. They agreed the mother and child would only be discharged once their bills were settled.
