No medical test was conducted on Sylvester Oromoni at Dowen College — Doctor

By ADENIKE AYODELE/MOJI ENIOLA

A medical doctor at Dowen College, Dr Mojisola Bisiriyu, on Tuesday told an Ikeja Corona’s Court that no medical test was conducted on the late student of the school, Sylvester Oromoni, before he was taken home on health grounds.

Bisiriyu, the resident doctor at Dowen College, qualified as a medical doctor in 2007.

She told the court that he had been working with the school for five years.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bisiriyu made the disclosure while being cross-examined by counsel to Oromoni Family, Mr Femi Falana (SAN).

“No test was conducted on him because, from my assessment, the deceased’s case warranted not taking him to the hospital.

“The school policy states that parents must be informed whenever their children are sick because some parents have specific hospitals they want to take their children to.

“We only refer serious cases to the school hospital which is Lifeline Children Hospital in Lekki, Lagos, and it is a three-minute drive from the school.

“I did not refer the deceased to the school hospital because his case was not an emergency one,” she said.

Bisiriyu, who said her job was to attend to the medical needs of the students and alerting parents if need be, testified that the deceased had pains on his right thigh.

“The deceased came to the sick bay with leg pain. I have my office at the sick bay and I saw the deceased on Nov. 22, 2021, after I had gone for COVID-19 routine checkup.

“His leg was massaged on my instruction by a nurse. On Nov. 23, 2021, he told me he still had pain on his right thigh.”

She, however, said that when she saw the student being assisted by his guardian into a car to go home, she advised that he should be taken to a hospital.

“However, I did not give them a referral note to another hospital,” she said.

Questioning Bisiriyu further, Falana said “Dr Soyemi, a pathologist, said that all the deceased needed was a dose of antibiotics and he would be fine.

“Why didn’t you apply antibiotics on the deceased?”

Responding, Bisiriyu said: “As a medical doctor, you do not go ahead administering antibiotics without proper checkup.

“In this instance, there was no temperature, no fever. We are not a hospital and we are not allowed to run tests,” she said.

The doctor said that she was unaware of the allegation that the deceased had a twisted tongue in April 2021 and had to be taken home from the school.

The witness also said that she did not notice any scalding of the student’s lips on Nov. 23, 2021.

The Coroner, Mr Mikhail Kadiri, adjourned proceedings until Feb. 28 for continuation of hearing.

NAN reports that it was alleged by the Oromoni family that the 12-year-old student died on Nov. 30, 2021, from injuries sustained in an attack by five senior students of Dowen College for refusing to join a cult.

It was also alleged that he was forced to drink a substance by his attackers.

Advice by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions released on Jan. 4, however, disputed the allegations.

It stated that an autopsy revealed the cause of the student’s death as acute bacterial pneumonia due to severe sepsis. (NAN)