For almost two years, eight-year-old Samuel Ojo,
a pupil of Ibukun-Oluwa Nursery and Primary
School, Alakia-Olode, in Egbeda Local
Government Area of Oyo State lived in untold
pain.
For the little boy, it was a very agonizing life
coping with a serious abdominal pain. One of his
testes had suddenly grown bigger than the other.
The ailment, according to his mother, Bukola,
was a very strange one. The unusual growth had
forced the parents to seek medical help from all
known places, including traditional healers.
In one of their visits to the hospital, Samuel was
diagnosed as having hernia, an ailment where the
internal organs protrude towards the outside
beyond their natural barriers and is usually
accompanied with serious stomach pain. The
family was asked to deposit N20, 000 to correct
the disorder, which could only be done through
minor surgical operation. However, small as the
money might seem, the parents could not afford
it. According to Bukola, eating three square meals
was even a very difficult task for the family. The
only choice was to wait for divine intervention.
And for two long years, young Samuel and his
parents had to suffer much agony.
“For two years, I suffered as much pain as my
son. Whenever he was in pain, I would either be
looking at him helplessly or be running helter-
skelter with the hope of raising the money for the
surgery,” said the mother.
With prayers, help did come as one of their
neighbours, a nurse at Alakia-Olode Primary
Health Centre, informed Bukola that her son could
be treated for free. She had informed the
agonizing mum of a free surgery programme
being run by a non-governmental organization
(NGO) at the health centre.
“I quickly ran to the health centre with my boy.
After tests were conducted on him, we were
given a date. It was a Saturday. I brought him for
the operation and it was performed on him,
without being charged a penny. I thank God it
was successful. The wound is now healing
gradually.”
For four-year-old Koyum Akinade, poverty
forced his family to leave him to suffer for so
long. Symptoms of hernia were first noticed few
months after Koyum’s birth, and since then, the
Damilare Nursery and Primary School Alakia,
pupil had been languishing in pain. His mother,
Mrs. Romoke Akinade, explained that the boy had
abnormal testes that often appeared and
disappeared. The abnormal situation was usually
accompanied by serious pains in the thighs. After
several visits to the hospital, the boy was
diagnosed as having hernia. The parents were
asked to deposit the sum of N15, 000, but they
couldn’t raise the money.
They had to wait until the news of the
organization got to them. “My boy really
suffered,” she recalled. “I often cried myself
anytime he was in pain but when the news got to
us I decided to try my luck, although I was not
really convinced about the sincerity of the
organization. Without knowing anybody, my son
was attended to. At first, I was afraid that
something serious might go wrong in the cause
of the surgery but I thank God that it all went
well.
He is feeling better now.”
Dr. Bayo Aluko-Olokun, the Consultant and head
of the medical team of Olajumoke Akinjide
Foundation (OAF), the non- governmental
organization behind the free medical surgery, said
OAF did not limit itself to the treatment of hernia
or other ailments associated with children. He
said the group has also performed successive
operations on adults. He said about 3,500
surgeries with 100 per cent success have so far
been performed since the programme kicked off
in January last year, while adults with diseases
that range from Lypoma excision, Fibroma
excision, Ganglion, un-descended testes, excision
of cysts, jaw tumour and breast lump, among
others, have also been treated for free.
Mr. Wasiu Babatunde, a refrigerator repairer who
was treated for ganglion at the back of his left
hand, while corroborating Dr. Oluokun’s
statement, said he was treated for free by the
organization along with other adults. Recalling
how he was struck by the strange growth,
Babatunde said though any pain did not
accompany the ailment, it later became an
embarrassment for him.
“It just appeared like a small boil on my hand
sometimes in 2009, only to become bigger the
point of embarrassment later.” He explained that
various medications, especially traditional
ointment applied on the growth before the
surgery was like adding petrol to fire as the
ganglion grew bigger by the day. After visits to
the hospital, he was informed that the growth
was called ganglion and could only be removed
through a minor surgical operation.
“The fear of going under the knife as well as the
required fund for the operation, considering my
meagre resources, was my major source of
concern. Yet the ganglion kept increasing in size
day by day,” he said.
When he was informed by friends about the free
medical services being provided by the
organization, he took the news with a pinch of
salt, describing it as mere political grandstanding.
But with more persuasive words, he reluctantly
visited the centre where he was tested and given
a date for the surgery. The surgery was later
performed on his hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment