The death of Rita Emmanuel, a junior at the Federal Government College in the Akwa Ibom State’s Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, has sparked a heated response from her parents.
Rita Emmanuel, a 10-year-old pupil at the school, passed away after having been taken to the Sick Bay, which is said to have lacked the resources and professionals to treat her case. Later, she was directed to a hospital.
It was said that she had been given to her parents, who then took her to a reference hospital where doctors were unable to treat her “complex” illness.
Furious parents responded to the event on Monday night by accusing the school administration of incompetence, saying that “the medical facility in the school is completely dysfunctional to take care of some serious cases involving the about 5,000 students of the school.”
“The children, as young as 10 years, are going through lot of pains from poor medication because unavailability of quality drugs with only two nurses, poor feeding, with cooks and teachers always in the habits of carting foods away, leaving the children malnourished and water crises all the time in the school,” a parent, Mayen Ekanem, said.
“This is a clear case of avoidable death. The school is lacking in everything including discipline and security because young children have traumatic experiences almost every day with the seniors brutalising them, stealing their things and raping some innocent girls,” another parent, Enobong Bassey, lamented.
“My late brother-in-law’s son by name Emediong Akpan, was admitted into senior school one, and that same term, a senior student hit him on the chest and he started vomiting blood. When my husband tried to arrest the student, the school management promised to handle it. Since that day, Emediong’s life has never been the same until he graduated,” another parent said.
“My son was wounded by his bunk in the dormitory, all they could do at the clinic was to administer ointment, not minding the rust on the bunk,” Mfoniso Essien noted.
Following a meeting with the school administration, Dr. Itoro Ikoh, the chairman of the Parents Teachers Association of the school, pleaded for calm while outlining the facts behind the death of the little Rita.
In her words, “Miss Rita was a JSS one student. I was told she felt pains in her stomach at night. The following morning, while her house mistress was on routine check, she ordered that Rita be taken to the Sick Bay. She was attended to, but on cross examination, she was observed to be in a complicated condition which required referral.
“Umbilical hernia was diagnosed and the attention of Rita’s parents were required. When we spoke to the mother, she told us that she usually gave her vinegar to calm down, but was later taken to the hospital where she died.”
