Inaccurate Genotype Result,
Cause Of My Ordeal
The pain and helplessness of taking care
of a perpetually sick child has made
genotype tests compulsory for intending
couples in some religious groups. This is
to avert giving birth to children that will
not only come to suffer but also be a
source of heartache to their parents and
loved ones. But what happens when a
renowned hospital makes a mistake that
becomes the cause of such an ordeal?
ZION ZADOK, Abuja, writes
Edward Kanu, an Abuja-based business
man related his ordeal to LEADERSHIP
Sunday on how he was given the wrong
genotype result by a renowned hospital in,
Abuja which led to the birth of his son who
suffers from sickle cell disease.
Mr Kanu said he returned to Nigeria from
Europe where he had lived for about five
years in 2006 with the intention of getting
married.
He said three months into their
relationship, his fiancée then who is a
nurse, insisted he must produce his
genotype results before they proceeded
with their marriage plans because she is
AS, a carrier of sickle cell and so wanted
to be sure he is not a carrier and avoid
giving birth to a child with sickle cell
anaemia.
He said he went to the hospital laboratory,
paid N300 for the genotype test and his
blood sample was collected; the test was
run on him and after about 20-25 minutes,
the result came out and the laboratory
gave Kanu his HB report: AA.
He said with that result, there was no
other obstacle to their getting married and
so they went ahead with the wedding.
Mr Kanu said he was happy to take home
his wife and they lived happily for nine
months but trouble started when she gave
birth to their first child and discovered that
the baby has sickle cell disease. At first,
they doubted the possibility given that his
genotype is AA even though his wife’s is
AS. So, at that point, they were asked to
go for a second test and when it was
conducted, the result showed that he did
not only have AS genotype but was also a
carrier of sickle cell gene like his wife. The
second test was conducted first at a
Military Hospital in Yaba-Lagos which has
good test equipment. From there, he went
to Echo Scan and finally, National Hospital,
both in Abuja and all the results showed
AS.
At that point, he discovered that he had
been given a wrong genotype result by the
general hospital where he first conducted
the test shortly before his wedding.
To seek redress, Mr Kanu filed a N300
million suit against the hospital in 2007 for
the emotional trauma the hospital’s
incompetency, inaccuracy, human error
and inefficient machines have caused him.
Kanu lost the first case at Abuja High Court
II as the court dismissed the case, saying
it was too late to sue. The presiding Judge
ruled that the time limit on genotype
issues is three months whereas it takes at
least about nine months after the
consummation of a marriage to determine
the birth of a child and even at that, the
child was not diagnosed with SS on the
day he was born and so the three months
provision by the court is not realistic in
this case.
Following the ruling of the previous court,
Mr Edwards Kanu appealed against the
case at the Appeal Court also in Abuja and
on Thursday December 11, 2014, the
Appeal Court granted that the case be
revisited and so the ruling of the High
Court was overturned.
Mr Kalu said the whole issue was not only
about going to court and winning a case
but about working towards breaking the
cycle of sickle cell anaemia in Nigeria
because in the cause of their going in and
out of the hospital to save his son, he
interacted with other people whose
children were also diagnosed with sickle
cell disease. He also discovered that most
of the cases were as a result of wrong
genotype results and inefficiency on the
side of the laboratory equipment in some
hospitals and human error too.
Mr Kalu has since reported the issue to the
Association of Medical Laboratory
Scientists of Nigeria as well as so many
sickle cell foundations. He said he was
going to report the case to the World
Health Organisation because something
must be done to break the cycle of sickle
cell anaemia in Nigeria and viable
equipment for carrying out tests on people
must be provided.
He said change would only start by getting
hospital laboratories to function better and
use the right equipment and chemicals in
carrying out their tests.
Mr Kanu lamented that taking care of a
sickle cell patient was not an easy task for
he and his wife. He said since his son,
Okwuchukwu Joseph Kanu was born, they
were always in hospital. In the last
incident, he said Joseph had to be given
about three pints of blood to resuscitate
him adding that they have spent a lot
money on medications and hospital bills.
Joseph’s sickly nature has not only
tampered on his health but also his
education as he is said to be out of school
because after taking too many injections, it
affected his hip bone and he now limps.
The family said they were making efforts to
see him get well and return to school.
Kanu confirmed that Joseph at seven has
only concluded his nursery school and
waiting to start primary one.
He said he and his wife are quite unhappy
about the situation because what they were
trying to avoid has caught up with them
and that if they were properly informed,
they would have separated amicably to
avoid the pain of having a child with sickle
cell anaemia. He said as a result of the
challenges, they had to stop put
procreation on hold after the birth of their
second son, Godswill, who miraculously
was born with AA genotype.
According to them, they had to stop
having more children because the thought
of giving birth to another child who may
suffer the same ailment was very
unbearable.
Mr Kanu has not stopped looking for a
solution for his son’s wellbeing as he said
they now are at the point of going for a
bone marrow transplant for their son.
Luckily, it was discovered that his younger
brother could be a possible donor, so it
won’t cost much to get a bone marrow but
would cost much to get their son to the
hospital in Italy where the transplant would
be done.
He said they are currently faced with a
whole lot of financial problems but hoping
that soon they would be able to raise
money for the costly operation. The
transplant, they were told, costs about
$45,000 (about N8.5m) which excludes
transportation and accommodation.
When LEADERSHIP Sunday tried to reach
the first hospital that handled the test for
comments, it was told that the laboratory
staff were not available due to the ongoing
strike of health workers.
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