Reps Decry Neglect of Nigerian whose kidney was stolen in Italy

The House of Representatives yesterday decried the neglect of Julie Osamese, whose kidney was surreptitiously harvested by doctors in Italy.

Julie, a mother of one, who is a legal immigrant in Italy, had gone to the Ospedale Maria Vittoria Cibrario Hospital in Turin, Italy sometime in November 2008 to complain about her poor health only to discover that her kidney was tampered with by doctors who attended to her.

Chairman of the House committee on Diaspora matters, Mrs. Rita Orji, who met with Mrs. Sweet Okundaye, an assistant director in the department of international and comparative law disclosed that Osamese is now in a critical condition in Italy.

Orji who drew the attention of the Foreign Affairs Ministry to the issue since last year expressed surprise that the ministry is yet to institute a panel of inquiry into the matter with a view to seeking redress as well as determine the role of the staff of the Nigerian High Commission in Italy accused of negligence.

Orji also noted that it was unfortunate that the authorities are not doing enough to avert the unlawful deportation of Nigerians in diaspora.

She also dropped the hint that the committee would be disposed to allocating adequate funds to the international and comparative law department of the Ministry of Justice to be able to protect the rights of Nigerians in diaspora starting this year.

Okundaye who acknowledged that her outfit had been working in tandem with the foreign affairs ministry on the issue recalled a similar instance of how the intestine of a 26 years old boy was removed in an inexplicable circumstances recently in Poland.