This Ekiti kidney saga is heartbreaking on all sides – for the patient whose life is now tied to dialysis, and for a surgical team whose work has now been judged in the full glare of social media.From the Ekiti State Government’s own statement, the panel of enquiry was clear on one crucial point: this was a surgical complication, not organ harvesting for rituals.
At the same time, the same report recommended dismissal of the lead surgeon and suspension of the whole theatre team, with government now committing to fund a transplant and two years of follow-up care.
So, whatever the sensational headlines say, the official position is: no ritual kidney theft, but a catastrophic outcome with serious professional lapses that demand accountability.
The internal account from colleagues suggests a very complex case – a multiloculated, non-functioning right kidney on CT and nuclear scan, but in reality part of a horseshoe kidney with abnormal anatomy. That kind of anomaly can be missed on imaging, especially in resource-constrained settings, but once you remove a “non-functioning” side and the patient becomes completely anuric, the line between “rare complication” and “avoidable error” becomes a very thin, painful one.
For me, the bigger lesson goes beyond this one surgeon. It exposes gaps at multiple levels: quality of imaging and reporting; pre-operative work-up and consent; intra-operative judgement when anatomy doesn’t fit the textbook; and, perhaps most importantly, post-operative communication. A man who believed he had one bad kidney and one good kidney woke up to a life of dialysis. If that story is not explained to him early, clearly, repeatedly, and in writing, it will inevitably be retold on the streets as “they stole my kidney”.
We must insist on justice and compassion for the patient – including transparent publication of anonymised clinical lessons and urgent strengthening of clinical governance at EKSUTH and beyond. But we also need to resist the lazy narrative that every bad outcome is a ritual or criminal act. If every rare complication leads straight to public lynching and instant dismissal, surgeons, nephrologists and radiologists will retreat into extreme defensive medicine or leave the system entirely – and the poorest patients will pay the price.
*This should be a turning point: better imaging and MDT reviews before major organ surgery, stronger documentation and consent culture, early involvement of hospital management when complications occur, and a more mature national understanding of the difference between complication, negligence, and crime. Punishing individuals without fixing the system simply sets us up for the next tragedy*
Dr Anthony CHUKWUNONSO UDE (Narcolepsy)
Communications Director World Medical Association – 2018/19
Founder and Convener Doctors Timeout Family (DTOF)
Secretary General NARD – 2018/19
20th December 2025
