23-year-old woman dies after giving birth to twins at Benue IDP camp - The Guardian Nigeria News

A 23-year-old woman, Mrs Seember Rochas, has died after giving birth to twin boys at the Ortese Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Benue State.

The woman’s husband, 27-year-old Mr Mende Rochas, told The Guardian that his wife delivered the twins successfully but died about two hours later.

According to him, his wife went into labour at about 7:00 p.m. on September 9, when staff at the camp’s makeshift health post had closed for the day.

He said she eventually delivered the babies inside the camp without medical assistance but developed complications afterwards and died at about 9:00 p.m.

Rochas said his wife had received antenatal care at the health post during her pregnancy, but there was no medical personnel available when she went into labour.

“There is a makeshift health stand at the camp where pregnant women receive antenatal care. But my wife went into labour around 7:00 p.m., when the staff had already closed for the day,” he said.

He added that there was no one available to provide the medical attention she urgently needed after the delivery.

The newborns, both boys, are still at the camp, where some elderly women have been assisting their father in caring for them.

The bereaved husband said camp officials initially provided some baby food for the newborns, but the supplies had since been exhausted.

Efforts to obtain the reaction of the camp officials were unsuccessful.

When contacted, the Executive Secretary of the Benue State Emergency Management Agency, James Iorpuu, could not respond directly to the inquiry. An aide who answered his mobile phone requested details of the incident, saying the executive secretary was busy and would return the call.

Several follow-up calls and a text message sent hours later had not been answered as of the time of filing this report.