From Benin to Sokoto: A tale of three non-functioning radiotherapy machines in key hospitals and a child’s life

by Eromose Ileso

Updated: 20 November, 2018. This piece was written on 16 July, 2017 about a two and half year old child who survived the gruelling effect of brain surgery, his journey from Benin City to Sokoto for radiotherapy and how he made a full recovery. But very sadly, he died in early 2018.

There are very distressing moments that are common place in the Nigeria health sector. As a person who has witnessed first-hand how things are in some tertiary health institutions in Nigeria as a patient, I can tell what it’s like in some of these hospitals. However, nothing I experienced could be compared to what a friend’s two and a half year old son went through about eighteen months ago.

In March, 2017 I was ambulating through Ibiwe Street, at Ring road when suddenly I heard my name being called. At first I ignored it, but as I continued, the call became louder, until I looked back and it turned out to be a friend I haven’t seen in person for a long time. Incidentally I called him a few weeks earlier when I got the news through a church bulletin that his wife was delivered of a baby. We embraced and both said “long time” at the same time. Then as we talked, I started hearing about issues that completely trumped whatever I have been through myself when I asked him why I hadn’t seen him for so long.

In August 2015, his son, who was just two and a half year old at the time, was complaining seriously of a persistent headache. This made him restless and whenever he ate, he always threw up, as his stomach became alien to any food it took. Because of this turn of event, he took him to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. He was admitted to the pediatric ward. 

By this time, the kid was getting completely restless and couldn’t stay still as he was always shouting “my head, my head” the pediatricians contacted the consultant Neurosurgeon at the hospital. He ordered an MRI scan of the brain. At the time, the machine at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital wasn’t working. As is the case in most government hospitals in Nigeria, it had broken down. The MRI scan was done at Union diagnostic centre at Sapele road opposite the police microfinance bank.  

According to him, when he saw the MRI scan, it was clearly obvious even to him that is a layman as far as medical science is concerned, that something was wrong as there was a clear spot (tumour) in his son’s brain,

When he got back to the UBTH, the doctors immediately ordered an exploratory surgery to be carried out on his son. He was rolled to the operating theatre to which he spent hours there. When he was brought back, his words were “my heart broke” “the only place there was no ‘pipe’ in my son’s head were his eyes” “his ears, mouth, nose, upper spine and neck.” “I wished God could transfer the pains to me the father” he told me. After that the sample of the tumour was given to him for histology. According to him, he was informed by the neurosurgeon that his son’s case that is the tumour was a rare one. One the doctor hadn’t seen before.

At this time we were standing at the front of the shopping complex talking for a considerable time. The place I was going, took a back sit in my mind as I tried to process what I was hearing. Then he continued. After three weeks at the UBTH, the doctor ordered another MRI scan, but this time he was told that the machine at the UBTH was now working. They did the scan, and after that he was told that his son would have to undergo radiotherapy. That was when another challenge came up, not of his making, rather of the Nigerian system that is completely dysfunctional.

The radiotherapy machines at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) wasn’t working, the one at the University College Hospital Ibadan (UCH) was also not working. Same with the machine at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH). It meant he had to take his son to the North in spite of the gruelling and traumatic experience he underwent less than one month earlier. 

His options were down to the National Hospital, Abuja and the Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. He then told the doctors to give him two referral letters for both hospitals. When he eventually contacted the National Hospital, he was told that they had hundred patients on their waiting list and they couldn’t accommodate his son, and as such he was advised to seek other options. It turned out they had to head to Sokoto. A Northern state that is closer to another country, Niger Republic than the place (Benin City) where his son had the surgery.

So he headed to Sokoto with his wife as well as the son who wasn’t ready for such a long journey after what he had been through. Initially he had planned to stop over in Abuja at the place of a cousin who was waiting to take them in when they arrive. But according to him, they had a change of mind, because of the urgency of the situation and the urge to use all available time to move closer to Sokoto. 

They were able to get to Zaria that night. By this time it was already 12am. They had to lodge in a hotel to spend the night. His words “by this time, it was as if my son’s head was almost off his body, because the surgical procedure to remove the brain tumour resulted in several part of his body to be opened up especially the back of his head, and a little down to his upper spine as the tumour had spread. So the boy was clearly still feeling the effect as his neck couldn’t have healed in just one month after such a challenging surgery.

The following morning they headed to Sokoto. When they got there, there was another challenge, they didn’t know anybody. People, who have been to Northern Nigeria by road, would attest that it is like crossing the border to another country, only without the border check points.  As God would have it, after series of calls, he got to know that a woman, who worshipped in the same church with him in Benin City, did her national service in Sokoto and stayed back after she was offered a job. And she had even settled down there as she was married to a Yoruba man. It was her family that housed them throughout their stay in Sokoto.

When they got to the Usman Dan Fodio University Teaching Hospital, there was another challenge. The doctors said his son was too young to go into the radiotherapy machine, as he was just two and half years old. After deliberations, especially when it had to be considered that this family had traveled from Benin City in Southern Nigeria to Sokoto in the North. Eventually they shifted their position, and the boy was allowed to undergo the procedure. They took tricycle daily from where they stayed to the hospital until the procedure was complete.

When they got back to Benin City, they reported at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Where another MRI scan was ordered.

As he narrated the ordeal his son and his family went through, I asked him where he got the funds to do all this. Because, he doesn’t earn a salary and besides nobody saves up money to treat an ailment. He is an entrepreneur than fends directly for himself and family through his boutique where he deals on different clothing attires; same goes too for his wife. He told me how the church and some members were of great financial help, and in his absence, whatever was sold from his boutique; the money was transferred to him in Sokoto.

After all the horrifying tales, it all ended when I was shown the picture of his son, who had completely recovered. I saw him again two months later at the same spot, and his son was the first person I asked after.

This particular experience a friend’s son went through again reflects the difficulty and challenges of undergoing medical treatment in Nigeria hospitals. The simple question is why were the radiotherapy machines in three key tertiary medical institutions in Southern Nigeria not working at the time?

This unfortunate and negligible state of affairs further put the life of a two and half year old boy at risk. After the trauma he went through, as if that was not enough, he still had to be taken to Sokoto a distance of 749 km (465 miles). What if the boy had suffered another trauma? Nobody who had undergone such a procedure should have had to go through the travails of travelling that long distance on a public transport, because some people somewhere failed to do what is expected of them.

It is such a thing that has cost the lives of so many Nigerians. My friend’s son went through it and came out of it successfully to the glory of God. But so many Nigerians are not so lucky or favoured, as several have kicked the bucket due to the poor service delivery that is prevalent in the Nigerian health sector.

If you are a Nigerian that has gone under the knife in any hospital in the country and you came out of it without post-surgical complications, it is worthy of thanksgiving to the almighty God. Things many take for granted in advanced countries, are not so in this clime.

Little wonder the president of Nigeria is abroad seeking medical treatment, which says a lot about what is on offer in Nigeria. If it’s not good enough for the country’s number one citizen, is it really good enough for any Nigerian?   

   

Benin City: A stream flowing with street cultism

by Eromose Ileso

Cultism has become a menace to the Nigeria society, but in some places in the country, it is a bigger problem than it is in others. Benin City, the capital of Edo State is an example of where the menace has become an issue that never seem to end. 

In 2014, I wrote a piece that traced the evolution of cultism from the tertiary institutions to the streets in Benin City, and how the credibility that was common place in the streets have given way to cultism. 

Even at that, one prevalent thing about school cultism is that it is largely 'seasonal' in nature in that, rival cult groups most times engage in battle mostly during the end of a school session. This is why it is common place to see that certain final year students that are highly placed in the leadership of cult groups do not live to leave the University as their life is sniffed out from them shortly after their final examinations for deeds they carried out in their earlier years in school. Cases abound where this has happened.

The seasonal nature of school cultism is not cast on stone; something could trigger a disagreement between rival cult members that would lead to a larger problem at any time during a school session. However, with street cultism, it is never seasonal, it can happen at any time of the year, it does not matter what time of the year it is really.

At different times in 2015, the killings between different cult groups in Benin City was so high that it took the intervention of the then Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase who is from Benin City, Edo State to stem the tide. 

The IGP came down hard on the leaders of the groups as officers from the Force Headquarters in Abuja came to arrest several leaders of the rival cult groups in Benin City. Some of those arrested had association with highly placed individuals in government. Some police officers were not spared in the clamp down as those that have association with the cult groups were arrested. While some were taken to Abuja, others ended up in Lagos. 

The clamp down was so serious that even Divisional Police Officers (DPO) could not release on bail those that were in the Divisional Police Stations. But despite these arrests, there is/was little or no evidence of anybody that was charged to court, most of them eventually got out of detention on police bail.

That singular act by the IGP brought about a thaw between the cult groups as there was a sudden peaceable sphere that pervaded the landscape of Benin City as an unusual serenity descended on the horizon. Even you could hear some of the cult members giving cryptic signs via hush tunes that indeed they have been able to move around freely without fear that they would be attacked. Whether it was a Manfight, Eiye, Bucaneer, Black Axe and/or Jurist cult member, the intervention brought about by the IGP was something they all welcomed.

And it should be noted that one reason why the IGP’s invention was swift was because he understood the terrain as well as the various networks in the City. 

His intervention was reminiscent to that of retired (Deputy Inspector General) DIG Parry Osayande’s posting to Benin City as Police Commissioner of Old Bendel State in 1986 by military president, Ibrahim Babaginda to deal with the robbery menace of Lawrence Anini and his gang. Again, this was possible because Parry Osayande knew the terrain because he is from Benin City.

However, that thaw that was brought about by the intervention of the IGP later disappeared as the killings soon resumed. That undercurrent that is always there triggered another spate of killings. In the Evboneka Community of Benin City, there were killings almost on a daily basis, with a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.

On Tuesday, January 26, 2016, the Edo State Police Command arrested and paraded over 46 cult members including those that were on their way to sniff out life out of a rival cult member. They had earlier been informed by a friend that their target was at Urokpota Hall, at Ring Road, so the two of them proceeded with a back pack to their destination, but fortunately, they were accosted by the police at Ring Road who searched their bag and discovered two firearms and a axe. It was at the parade, they narrated what they were on their way to do, before they were arrested. However, others that were targeted to be killed have not been as fortunate as they have met their untimely dead by a design they fostered on themselves.

At various times throughout 2016 and as well as 2017, there have been different spate of cult related killings. There was one particular case that was very bad. It happened in the Ikpoba Hill area of Benin City in February, 2017. A rival cult group went to the home of a rival to pull a hit, when they got there; their target was not at home. Instead they ended up beheading a sibling of their supposed target.

Street cultism in Benin City has become so bad that involvement cuts across every facet of the fabrics of the City. Artisans, electronic dealers, Technicians, ordinary persons and other group of persons are deeply involved. Primary and Secondary school students are also involved. 

Most of them join these cult groups willingly, while some end up there through peer pressure and at other times they are initiated into the cult groups by their friends. And the multiplier effect of this involvement in cult groups is that there is the domino effect of armed robbery. Those who are not engage in any productive venture, will end up being involved in kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and extortion. And one of the reasons why they engage in these social vices is that they have to pay dues to the cult groups they belong to. These dues are paid the way members of any association pay their dues. As a result, most of them go to any length to get the necessary money to pay the dues.

The reason why the rate of street cultism is on the high side in the various suburbs and communities in Benin City is something that was extensively dealt with in this piece of 2014.

But it would be unfair to claim that the menace of cultism in particular and street cultism in general is something that is a problem only in Benin City. All over the country, it is a problem that has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian Society, It is everywhere. But a major difference between cult memberships in the supposedly high class is that there is this esprit de corps between them irrespective of the fraternity they become to, whereas, in street cultism, any fault lines and tensions from existing undercurrents result in killings.

There is a clear respect of hierarchy amongst the high echelons of this cult groups, but in street cultism, there is seldom respect as such, anybody can use a personal disagreement outside to initiate a spate of killings as there is always a loose chain of command, that is why these killings are so prevalent.

With the way the menace of street cultism is shaping up, it would take more than just the usual practice of arrest and parade by the police for it to be curtailed.

Something drastic has to be done to address the issue. For now though, the killings through street cultism continues unabated.