The Elegant Nurses Forum has demanded an urgent, independent investigation into the death of twin babies who reportedly died after receiving a wrong injection during immunisation at Ajangbadi Primary Health Care Centre in Lagos State.
In a statement on Thursday, the group described the incident as “heartbreaking and unacceptable,” insisting that the tragedy exposed deep-rooted failures in the state’s primary healthcare system and poor enforcement of professional standards.
The forum sympathised with the bereaved parents, saying no family should lose children through avoidable medical errors.
It, however, clarified that the injection was administered by a Community Health Extension Worker, not a nurse, stressing that the distinction was necessary to address the systemic problems responsible for recurring mishaps in public health facilities.
According to the group, nurses are globally trained professionals bound by ethics and clinical standards, while CHEWs are primarily trained for community mobilisation, health education and basic support services, not advanced clinical procedures.
The forum accused successive governments of weakening patient safety by appointing CHEWs to head primary healthcare centres and replacing nurses with them in a bid to cut costs.
It further claimed that it had warned the Lagos State Government months ago of an impending disaster arising from poor regulation and alleged negligence by the Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, but said the warning was ignored.
“This tragedy must not be swept under the carpet. Nurses are irreplaceable, and patient safety must never be sacrificed on the altar of cost-cutting,” the forum said.
It demanded a transparent probe into the incident, immediate accountability for those responsible, strict enforcement of scope of practice, removal of unqualified personnel from clinical roles, restructuring of PHCs to prioritise patient safety, and the restoration of nurses as heads of primary healthcare centres across the state.
The forum warned that unless urgent steps were taken, more innocent lives would be lost.
The Lagos State Government and the Primary Health Care Board are yet to officially react to the incident as of the time of filing this report.
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