MDCN declares doctor guilty of cutting off patient’s kidneys

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has declared Dr Yakubu Hassan Koji, guilty of all the 12 charges preferred against him, TheNation reports.

Koji was arraigned for allegedly surgically cutting off the kidneys of one Isa Hamma, now deceased, without informing the patient of the nature of the operation and risks involved.

The Chairman of the tribunal sitting of MDCN, Prof Abba Hassan, declared him guilty of gross negligence and professional misconduct and struck his name out of the register of MDCN.

Dr Koji – who practised from 2012 (housemanship) to 2016- had performed an operation on Hamma without informing him of the risks involved; in the process, he ‘mistakenly’ cut off his kidneys.

In an interview with the Nation Correspondent, the respondent lawyer, Mr B. E Olowonubi, said: “There are options that are open to any aggrieved person to the decision of the tribunal.

“One option is to abide by the decision of the tribunal. The other option is to appeal the decision of the tribunal to the court of appeal.

“To appeal the decision, the respondent has 28 days to do that by the rules of the tribunal.

“From the area he comes from there is a level of poverty in the area. He is one of those who have been very helpful to the downtrodden who require medical help, and with reference to this particular incident, you realise that when a medical doctor is performing surgery it is difficult to take notes because the patient came as an emergence.”