An Ivory Coast model who was brutally beaten in a taxi, slipped into a coma after being left untreated by hospital staff for more than 12 hours because no one was there to pay her $230 medical fees, her family claim. Awa Fadiga, 23, was attacked about 11pm in a cab taking her home to an upscale neighborhood in the capital, Yamoussoukro, on March 23. Two witnesses say they saw the locally famous fashion model being thrown out of the cab under a bridge, apparently unconscious. Firefighters rushed the young woman to the Central University Hospital where she was allegedly neglected before falling into a coma. She died two days later. Fadigas aunt, Sira Kone Fadiga who had raised her since she was five-years-old, said the family heard about the young womans injuries about 1pm the next day. She said the hospital refused to provide even basic care until someone came to pay for Fadigas treatment, showing bills amounting to around $230 for everything from medicine to sanitary gloves. We found her half-naked on the floor, in a coma. We had to use her grandmothers scarf to hide her breasts, she said. The hospital CT scan machine was down that day, so Fadigas family also had to pay for transport to a private clinic, Sira Kone Fadiga said. Fadigas death was caused by severe head injuries including a skull fracture sustained during the assault, according to the family and medical reports. Police are searching for the driver and have shown two portraits of the men who allegedly robbed and attacked Fadiga. Attacks in private taxis are fairly common, usually involving the driver and an accomplice who waits at an agreed-upon location to rob an unsuspecting passenger or is sometimes even hiding in the trunk. Fadigas tragic death has devastated her family, who said her modeling career was starting to take off. She had signed with an elite agency and landed several major gigs, including an advertisement campaign with the telecoms firm Orange. Since she was a young teenager, people would stop her in the street to offer her modeling jobs, her aunt said. Health Ministry officials declined to comment for this story, but they have published several documents about Fadigas case including a medical report. A statement said the ministry was not responsible for Fadigas death. The horrific case of alleged neglect has reportedly shone a spotlight on Ivory Coasts declining health care system, once the envy of West Africa. More than 8,000 Ivorians signed an online petition criticizing the hospitals behavior in Fadigas case, and more than 23,800 have joined a Facebook group denouncing the priority of money over basic health care. Everybody has a story like that. Awa is just the symbol of all our pain, said Salif Barry, a 23-year-old technology worker. It is a moment to come together and ask ourselves what has become of our health care system. The hospital has denied claims of negligence, saying officials were following standard procedure, but the director of the hospital was fired on Friday. The hospital, in a large concrete building erected in the 1960s at Ivory Coasts largest university in Abidjans Cocody district, is a symbol of what Ivorians describe as free-falling care standards. It used to be considered the most modern hospital in West Africa. Once one of Africas most prosperous and stable countries, Ivory Coast has experienced economic decline and turbulent politics. The country of 20 million people came near to a civil war in early 2011 when Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down from power after losing elections. This sparked a violent crisis in which more than 3,000 people were killed before President Alassane Ouattara took office. Free health care was stopped the 1990s because of the countrys struggling economy and pressure from global financial institutions. The free care was temporarily reinstated after the postelection violence in 2011, but it proved too expensive and was again abandoned. Ouattaras government has said it intends to re-introduce universal health coverage by 2015. The state of the Cocody hospital illustrates the decline in Ivory Coasts health services. The hospital has leaking water pipes and there arent enough beds for patients. Equipment is missing or broken, and doctors say they lack even the most basic resources. We have to buy our own soap to wash our hands, said one doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared losing his job. We do want to help patients, but we do not have the means to do more. Its sad. When I started working at this hospital as an intern, it gave me pride. Now I realize how, slowly, this hospital is crumbling down.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 00:45:37 +0000
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