My Hospital Runs Concluded (for now)...

                                               Image by TY from Lasgidi

My friend decided that I wait till she gives the green light before I come over to the hospital to avoid stories that touch.

So I waited for the green light. The first one came sooner than I thought. We spoke that morning and it seemed fine. She even gave me the time to come. “But I will call you by 8:30 so you can be here by 10 am”. It was 8:30 and she had not called, so I began to call. She didn’t pick up. When it was twenty minutes to 10 and she still hadn’t called back, I convinced myself it was a green light so I left the house and headed to the hospital. On my way, I checked my phone and realized I had missed a call from her, so I call back.

I told her I was on my way already and she was like “Nooooo, they said the doctor won’t be available today. Make it Wednesday by 9 am.

Ha! Wednesday kuma? Na wa ooo. So I turned and headed home. I called her again to confirm if I had heard her well and she confirmed it. Toh! Two days from today fa. That would make it one week after the first disappointing visit.

Imagine!

I began considering a private clinic. I even made a few enquiries but she pleaded with me to hold on and see how the next appointment would go before deciding. I am usually very patient, I can be so patient you would think I am not okay ama the day I lose patience over a matter or a person, I am done.

So I waited, patiently.

The day came and I left early to make it on time. My friend was busy because her dad stopped by to see her. We said our greetings then I waited for her to finish up and take me to the eye clinic because my folder was with her. I saw her and daddy moving around, going up and down. She apologized and said she would be with me shortly. Later she came and said she was coming as there was an emergency and she needed to help. I was cool with her helping in an emergency situation. After a while, she came and got my folder and said to follow her to the emergency unit before we head to the eye clinic. It was on our way she told me about this boy who was brought in by his mother to the emergency unit.

He was in so much pain, he was struggling to breathe. On getting to the emergency unit, the people on duty looked at him and said “NO BED”.

Daddy pleaded with them to at least take a look at the boy while he scouts around for a mattress that they can put the boy on. Daddy is a Prof and over eighty years old. So imagine him running around the hospital scouting for a mattress to help save the boy’s life.

He was still in the car, for two hours, struggling with no help. A doctor reluctantly gave him an injection at some point and I am told his cheeks twitched.

He was a 200level student of a prestigious institute. (I am leaving out the names to respect their privacy). He had called his mother from school to come and get him as he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t understand how he was feeling. So she brought him home on Monday night and the next day took him to a private hospital only for them to tell her on Wednesday to go to a government hospital. The painful part of this story is that the boy was a student at an institution that has probably the best hospital in this town and I believe as a student he is entitled to certain privileges. We all felt strongly that if he had been taken to the school’s hospital, he wouldn’t have been in that situation where he was told 'no bed' while he struggled between life and death.

We got to the emergency unit and saw women by his mother’s car praying and calling his name, telling him not to leave his mother.

Now, I believe in the efficacy of prayer. I believe the dead can come back to life. It has happened even in our days. So I went to the car and looked at him. He looked like he was sleeping, his body felt warm when I placed my hand on his forehead and felt his chest for a heartbeat. As my hands made contact with his body, I felt ‘ a heaviness’ in my heart, so I told my friend to “come let’s go”. I didn’t want to be the one to dampen their faith but that boy was gone. Just like that. He was so young, about nineteen, but ‘hospital people’. As I said in my previous post, ‘make una fear God’.

One day it may be your child or spouse or friend or loved one in that situation and in a place far from you, have you ever considered the possibility of that happening? It may even be in the same town as you but a different hospital. What if they meet someone with your attitude? Would you be glad about it? Would they survive?

Abi una never lose person before?

Why the nonchalance?

Why the lack of compassion?

Why so inhumane?

What happened to the ethics of your profession which is saving lives first?

I strongly feel his life would have been preserved but for “hospital people”.

Hmmm! Make I ‘mechi onu’ ooo. As my chest still dey pepper me because of this matter.

So I finally get to see the doctor and went through all the eye test procedures. He decided I needed glasses to protect my eyes since I work with devices and gadgets a lot. He also did another test abi check to be sure there was no other problem beyond lights and reflections. He declared ‘no other problem’, “just the glasses and you will be okay” he said.

Toh, I thank God. Na the glasses wey I dey run from all this while be this. He said it is age-related because as one gets older, the eyes get weaker. Meanwhile, my dad used glasses for as long as I can remember but immediately he had one surgery like that to remove cataracts from his eyes, he never used glasses again till he went to be with the lord. He said he began to see clearer and better than ever. So why e no 'affect' him eye? Na me this twenty-five-year-old dem dey talk age to. Issokay!

My friend also had her eyes checked and we were both given prescriptions. One of these days I will show you how I look like, as a ‘glasses-wearing somborri’, but that will be when I am ready. My friend wants the funkiest and loudest frames ever. Me ‘kuma’ I want chick and convention combined (if there is anything like that), you get? I don’t want it too flashy as I like to be heard before I am seen. Toh, we are currently ‘frame searching’ as we won’t be using their stock, wire-rimmed frames. Mbaah!

On a serious note, If you work in a hospital as a doctor or a nurse or even an attendant, be kind to the patients. Show some level of humanity.

Biko!

E jooo!

Dan Allah!