The family of 42-year-old Kehinde Albert has appealed to the public for help after he went missing from the General Hospital in Gbagada, Lagos.
Kehinde was last seen on February 27 at the hospital, where he had gone for medical tests before enrolling in a rehabilitation programme for alcohol addiction.
According to his elder brother, Olatunde Albert, Kehinde had struggled with alcoholism for several years and was taken to the hospital on February 26 along with his twin brother for preliminary examinations.
Olatunde said Kehinde suddenly experienced seizures and convulsions while at the hospital and was quickly admitted for treatment. After receiving medical care, he stabilised.
He explained that he left the hospital the next day to buy prescribed medication, leaving Kehinde in the care of his twin brother. Later that night, however, he became concerned when he saw the twin brother outside the hospital.
“When I asked why he had left Kehinde at the hospital, he said hospital staff chased them away,” Olatunde said.
Hospital officials, however, gave a different version of events. They stated that Kehinde and his twin brother had attempted to leave the facility several times and eventually left while staff were reviewing their documents.
Since then, the family says all efforts to find him have been unsuccessful.
“We have been searching everywhere since that day. We have already lost our mother, and we are pleading with the public to help us find him,” Olatunde said.
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When contacted, the hospital’s Medical Director, Dr Olusegun Babafemi, explained that Kehinde initially came for routine tests but nearly collapsed at the laboratory and was rushed to the emergency unit, where he was stabilised.
Babafemi said Kehinde’s twin brother later insisted on leaving the hospital despite medical advice that further tests, including evaluations by a cardiologist and a psychiatrist, were necessary.
He added that the hospital informed them they could leave after completing a formal discharge process, which they eventually did.
“Once a patient is discharged, the hospital is no longer responsible for the individual unless the person is admitted to the ward,” Babafemi said.
The hospital has since circulated Kehinde’s photograph internally and advised the family to search locations he frequently visited, suggesting he may have gone somewhere familiar.
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