SANITIZING THE NIGERIAN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM... DIVINE INTERVENTION OR SCAPE GOAT NEEDED???

On Sunday, 10th January 2016, just few days ago, as I drove to church, I came across an accident scene on Oregun road; a mobile police man had been thrown off his bike after hitting a turning Hilux van. (Whether he should have been riding a bike that if ordinary citizens tried riding would have been seized is a story for another day.)

Well the First Aider in me kicked in as I promptly parked, joined ohers who had stopped and checked him, only a few bruises were noticeable, but after asking how the accident happened and learning he had literally been thrown across the hilux and landed head first, it was decided it would be better to rush him to the nearest hospital for proper check up.

I volunteered to take him to the hospital, hoping my Red Cross membership would be vial to getting him attended to promptly.

With hazard lights blinking and horns blaring I made for the hospital as fast as I could and drove into the medical emergency ward. The attendant on duty (I don’t want to dignify by calling her a nurse as I believe a nurse would have been concerned with lives.) flippantly replied, “We don’t handle accidents here; find your way to the surgical emergency for accident cases”. I thanked her and she went back o disinterestedly doing whatever she was before we got there.

We went further down to the surgical emergency. We got there a few minutes past 8am, and first things first we collected a card, filled it and were asked to sit, after sitting till past 10am, a nurse finally came and gave him a shot of TT.  The wait continued until he was finally attended to around 11am. With drugs being written down and him being advised to take an x-tray.

I was baffled because if he had any internal injuries chances are the man might just collapse and die on his way home. (Well thankfully he didn’t and he is recovering well now.)

Anyway that aside, those three hours in the surgical emergency of that hospital showed me a lot and taught me about how sanctity for human life has become degraded.

An armed robbery victim was rushed in from a private hospital,(name withheld) he had been cut severely by the robbers and the private hospital had apparently done what they could before transferring him to this particular Government hospital,(Name withheld but your guess is as good as mine) hence he came in heavily bandaged and with an iv line attached to him. However he was still losing a lot of blood, and groaning in pain. It was a Good Samaritan that had spotted the man being robbed and ‘macheted’ and had rushed him to the hospital even though he was wearing only a boxer shorts and t-shirt.

As a first Aider my heart went out to him, and I thanked God he had been brought into the hospital (As a first aider your Job ends there) and I expected to see the hospital staff swing into Action. Alas they continued their banters as if nothing had happened. The driver of the makeshift ambulance was accompanied by two staff of the private hospital who presented some papers to the people at the reception desk. Lo and behold they pronounced first go and get a card.  next they began to complain, saying a whole(name of private hospital) sending us a paient. anyway, a card was gotten and filled and then the next pronouncement shook me to my bones.

“We are sorry there is NO BED!”

What? This must be a joke I guessed, but lo and behold the patient whose survival depended largely on being attended to immediately, was left lying and groaning in the back of the Volvo van(makeshift ambulance) for over 30minutes. I would walk out and back inside the ward with tears on my face, I went to the ambulance severally, the man was coherent intermittently, but there was nothing I could do at that point. The man needed urgent attention by qualified medical personnel.

Eventually a woman who seemed to be coordinating finally asked that one woman go take the vitals of the casualty, and I heard another response that shook me to the bone.

 Emi ti close o, mo fe ma lo le. In English: me I have closed o, I want to go home.

I wondered what happened to the sanctity of human life. Finally his vitals were taken, a bed was brought out from somewhere inside, a patient in the emergency ward transferred to that bed, and then the emergency bed/stretcher taken out to bring the casualty in. AFTER ALMOST AN HOUR!!!

Immediately he was brought in, they all began running helter-skelter to save his life, and I shook my head at the hypocrisy. As far as I was concerned if that man dies his blood is solely on the Surgical Emergency staff of the big government hospital in Ikeja.

What or who then do we blame?

The lack of beds?

The lackadaisical attitude of the staff?

Do we need divine intervention in the medical line?

 If a teaching hospital can treat human life this way, then what do we expect from other hospitals?

Or do we need some staffs to be sacked so others can sit up?

As I shared my experience with a fellow staff in the office this morning she reminded me of the case of a mutual friend who was shot a few years ago by robbers and rushed to this same hospital. Lo and behold, NO BED!!!

How can this worrisome trend be allowed to continue?  What is needed to be done?

DIVINE INTERVENTION OR SCAPEGOAT NEEDED?

WILL YOU BE MISSING?

I got this from someone who got it from someone who got it from someone, hence can't trace the original writer to give credit. But it's worth reading.

It was another bright Sunday morning. For Sarah,
Sunday mornings were usually eagerly awaited.
A smile lit up her face as she remembered the
song that has been rehearsed the previous day.
She had been assigned to do the lead singing -
an opportunity many members of the choir
craved,especially on Thanksgiving Sundays.
The chiming of the grandfather clock in their
state-of-the-art living room broke her reverie. It
was already 6:45am.she was almost late for the
pre-service prayer meeting for workers. She had
a hurried bath and a quick bite. The service
would be longer than usual today but far more
interesting too. She quickly inspected herself in
the mirror and smiled in satisfaction.
Leaving instructions for the housekeeper, she left
the house. Thank God she didn't have to walk.
Daddy was out of town so she could go to church
in his car. The idea of driving straight to the VIP
parking lot was very appealing to her. Daddy, as
one of the Deacons, had a special reservation in
the VIP parking lot.
She got to church in time for the pre-service
prayer. Everything seemed solemn that day.
Members soon started arriving with various
materials for Thanksgiving. The sanctuary was
fuller than ever, as typical of Thanksgiving
Sundays.
The choir was soon invited to the stage to
minister and as always, the end of the song
threw the congregation into moments of wild
excitements, accompanied by thunderous
applauds and screams from the worshippers.
Sarah smiled within herself. She always did
better than any other person in the choir. They
descended the stage and took their seats as the
sermon began.
The pastor introduced the sermon for the day -
Sacrifice of Praise. He talked endlessly-or so it
seemed to Sarah and her like - on the essence
and importance of praising God and pleasing
him. He emphasised that beyond bringing money
and other materials for Thanksgiving, believers
were supposed to live God-honouring lives
everyday.
The sermon soon ended and it was time to pray.
As the prayer session progressed, Sarah and
other back-up singers released soft tunes of
worship songs from their seats. She was so
enthralled by the melodious harmony of their
voices.
Almost immediately, there was this chaotic
murmur of voices in the congregation. Sarah
opened her eyes and found a few people still in
the praying mood. But the majority were busy
looking in different directions. She could see
something in their eyes. Uncertainty. Confusion
or was it panic? And where was the pastor in all
of this commotion? Swiftly, she turned to the
pulpit area. He was not there! Where on earth
could he have gone leaving his congregation in
such disarray? A brief scan through the choir seat
revealed that some of them were also missing.
Even Matilda wasn't there but her crutches were
in sight. Where could she have gone without her
crutches?
By this time the whole congregation had been
thrown into utter confusion. Some of them were
seen in small groups, conversing in frantic
whispers. Many did not understand what was
going on. Sarah ran wildly towards the back of
the sanctuary. She had to find mama. Seeing the
swivel chair her mother sat on made her heart
skip a bit. It couldn't be! Mama was not in her
chair, only the bag she had come to church with
was there.
Next she made for the church nursery and found
all the cradles empty. She saw an old lady,
obviously one of the nannies, crying
uncontrollably. She tried to find out from her
where other nannies had gone and why the
cradles were empty. But the nanny couldn't utter
a word - only heartbreaking sobs. She dashed
back towards the main auditorium. She bumped
into Sam, one of her friends whom her mother
had consistently warned her against moving
around with. He breathlessly confirmed that
people were missing and there seemed to be no
trace of them.
She decided then to go home. As she made for
the gate, she saw Freda. Freda wasn't a member
of their church. In fact, mama had tried severally
to invite her for service, but she never agreed.
What was she doing at the church gate crying so
disconsolately? Sarah tried to calm down and ask
her friend what the matter was. And the only
thing she could muster were "That thing your
mother always talked to me about has
happened." Sarah was dazed. What was she
talking about? No, it couldn't be!
As quickly as her legs could carry her, she ran,
almost blindly to the house, forgetting the car
she came to church in. "Maybe mama is there,
maybe Daddy has returned from his trip, maybe
Pat and Jane where there too, maybe, just
maybe." The deafening silence that greeted her
as she walked into the living room which was
busy only few hours ago paralysed her. She
picked up her handset. She could put a call
through to mama. After a few trials, she
remembered seeing mama's bag in her swivel
chair behind the church. Calling Daddy was her
surest bet. Since he was out of town, there
probably weren't such disappearances where he
was. Ah! Daddy's number won't even connect!
As if drawn by some magnetic force, she made
her way to where the radio set was. She could
probably get some information from the news.
She turned on the radio and tuned. Just as she
was about giving up, she had a male voice
announcing the sudden disappearance of people
in every part of the nation and maybe the world.
He noted that most of them were Christians.
How will the day of the rapture be for you? Will u be missing or be looking for saints who are already gone????? # copied #

THE PICTURES ARE OUT...

Yessooo...
to all the doubting thomases... hehehehe
my wedding pictures can be found on facebook..
find your way to
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=518865529

and enjoy your hearts fill...

Don't forget to join me for Sunday's Carol/Dinner by 4pm...