The death of one of the three children of the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie while receiving medical attention in a hospital has once again exposed the failures of the Nigerian health system and has generated a wave of complaints. Little Nkanu Nnamdi, 21 months old, died on January 7 at the Euracare private hospital in Lagos after being admitted for an infection and allegedly receiving an excessive dose of anesthesia. , one of the great references of African literature and winner of several international awards, has initiated legal action against this center, accusing it of negligence, while the State Government has launched an investigation.
The boy was first admitted to the Atlantis hospital for what appeared to be a bad cold and was later confirmed as an infection, but on January 6 he was taken to the Euracare hospital, from where he was scheduled to be transferred the next day to the John Hopkins hospital in the United States. However, a team from the latter medical center asked their colleagues in Lagos to perform two diagnostic tests, specifically a lumbar puncture and an MRI. To do this, the minor was sedated, who shortly after had to be intubated and transferred to the ICU. There he began to suffer seizures and died a few hours later.
One of the doctors told Adichie herself that “the anesthesiologist had administered too much propofol to Nkanu, that he had stopped responding and that they had quickly revived him,” according to WhatsApp messages from the writer that have been leaked to the media. Omawumi Ogbe, Adichie’s spokesperson, confirmed to the BBC the veracity of these messages, which had been shared within “a close circle of family and friends” and “not for public consumption.” And he added that they show “the devastating clinical failures that the family is now forced to face.”
who lives between Nigeria and the United States, also reported that the child “was not monitored at any time” after an excessive dose of anesthetic was administered. According to his story, the anesthetist disconnected him from oxygen and carried him in his arms to the ICU. “The anesthesiologist was criminally negligent. He was mortally careless with the precious life of a child. The proper protocol was not followed,” insisted Adichie, who also claimed that he had received information that the same anesthesiologist was responsible for the deaths of two other minors in the past.
In response to the complaint filed by Adichie and her husband, the Euracare hospital, after lamenting in a statement “the profound and unimaginable loss” suffered by the family, has assured that inaccurate data was being revealed and that it has launched “a detailed investigation.” The medical center states that the care provided to the child was “in accordance with established clinical protocols and internationally accepted medical standards, including the administration of sedation.” Despite “concerted efforts” with external medical teams at the suggestion of the family, Euracare added, the minor died 24 hours later.
The death of Chimamanda Adichie’s son, , has generated enormous outrage and a wave of public complaints about Nigerian healthcare. Among the aspects most criticized by citizens, which are expressed through social networks and in the Nigerian media, are the lack of resources, insufficient financing, low salaries and overload of work – which cause health personnel -, surgeries by candlelight due to lack of electricity supply or deteriorated facilities.
Adichie, 48 years old and author of novels such as Half yellow sun (2006) y Americanah (2013) or the essay We should all be feminists (2014), married Nigerian doctor Ivara Esege in 2009. Their first daughter was born in 2016, and in 2024. One of those children was little Nkanu Nnamdi.
