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?