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How medical staff in Umaru Shehu hospital helped kill accident victims recently
How medical staff in Umaru Shehu hospital helped kill accident victims recently
By: Bodunrin Kayode
So many issues that my binoculars have picked in the last few months of advertent silence but could not be reflected here now. However, this one has to do with what I will describe as “medical rascality” from a secondary hospital facility leading to the death of accident victims. That to me is why I needed to dissect the issues involved before the anger of the residents in Borno state against Dr Philibus and his management team dies down.
The increasing “professional arrogance” and downright ineptitude of some practitioners of the medical profession in Borno is beginning to stink unto high heavens. How on earth will accident victims from a scene in front of the Airforce base be rushed to a secondary hospital like Umaru Shehu and they are turned down? It’s sacrilegious that medical practitioners regardless of rank could dump their oaths in the alter of any guise or excuse and refuse wounded patients access to treatment. What happened some weeks back in maiduguri is an abominable act for any trained medical personnel not to have the milk of human kindness inside him or her. No wonder Governor Zulum vowed on his visit to the facility that heads will surely roll for such a wicked wrong doing.
And that was what was exactly displayed by staff of the Umaru Shehu ultra modern hospital recently to a good Samaritan who witnessed a head on collision between a commercial tricycle known as Keke napep and a passenger bus which was rushing to meet the eight O’ clock deadline for the Maiduguri Damaturu road to be opened to commuters by the military. The military closes the highway every day by 4pm till the next morning when it is opened. When open, some of the commuters speed as much as 150/180km per hour to get to their long distance locations in time loaded with so many passengers.
The Samaritan one Comrade Umar Mukhtar who bloodied his car for common humanity had decided to put the most vulnerable of the victims from the crash into his car and drove them speedily to the hospital named after the first Professor Emeritus of medicine in Borno, Umaru Shehu. Obviously hoping to get treatment for people he had never known in his life but he was turned down. He was so emotional about saving the lives of these two ladies even though they were not related to him. Eye witnesses said he had to virtually beg for them to be taken in immediately but they were abandoned on the bare floor by stone hearted medical personnel he met in the accident and emergency (And E) unit. He went to the office of the principal medical officer (PMO) Dr Philibus but he was not on seat. Got his line and called him but with the arrival of the man of the facility, the answer was a double no. He started shedding tears that even the so called well trained Philibus had joined the band wagon of ineptitude professionals which Governor Zulum has vowed to weed out. Here is his edited narration in a petition to the state government over the wrong attitude displayed by Dr Philibus the principal medical officer of the facility and his medical staff who stood for him before he was called to the scene.
TO THE GOVERNMENT AND GOOD PEOPLE OF BORNO
“Tears are still running from my eyes as am typing this messages.A serious accident never seen just happened in front of me today at about 4:50pm at the NAF Base gate along Kano road Maiduguri Borno State capital.
” The accident involved Hummer Bus with full passengers and Keke napep carrying 3 passengers and driver. The accident caused death and severe injuries. I had parked and rendered assistance as usual. The drivers were unconscious as they had Head injuries.
“The 2 women also had multiple fractures in the mouths and head bleeding and mentioning the name’s of their daughters, husband and their son to come for their aid.
” As we rushed them to the A&E at Umaru Shehu Ultra Modern Hospital (USUMH) unfortunately, they refused to attend to us and referred us to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). We asked for Ambulance to rush them to the UMTH they said they don’t have power to give us ambulance. We went to Chief Medical Director’s (CMD’s) office he wasn’t around I called him twice no response. That’s how the first woman by name Ya mallam died on the floor. Later when the CMD came he still asked us to go to UMTH. We asked if he can assist with ambulance because they were bleeding. He said the ambulances were faulty. I was able to ask some staff in the hospital, they said the ambulances are working only that he doesn’t want to give so we still had to carry them in our personal vehicles to UMTH.
“I cried over why a hospital like USUMH in the center of Maiduguri lack not only the Medical facilities but kindhearted management. I have all the pictures and videos for record purpose.” He said.
In his petition to Governor Zulum, Comrade Umar lamented that the security blockage the Nigerian Airforce component base had placed on their side of the road was another major setback for commuters plying that route which is the only functional route leading out of the state.
He went on: “The worse part of this is that the road is where this type of accident use to happen on a daily basis . Therefore, we call and appeal to the state government and all relevant authorities to stand and take urgent action on these by coming to our rescue to open this road closed by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) over a decade now.
“This is the only entrance to Maiduguri but it has become a death trap. The danger caused as a result of the shut down of the other length of the road is worse than Boko Haram itself. We don’t know why Nigerian Air Force still don’t want to Open this road. We all know that Boko Haram saga has become history.
“The number of people dying in accidents on the road daily are in thousands and it has crippled many. Are we all going to die before the road will be open? Enough is enough!
” So we advise as concerned citizens, Let NAF open this road as a matter of urgency and let them move to their permanent site at Auno and allow people to live long before their natural deaths. Let them close this gate and use their other entrance inside the Airport.”, said Comrade Umar Mukhtar.
On seeing the petition milling around the online space, Governor Babagana Zulum acted swiftly by first empathizing with the two ladies especially the one who died on the day of the crash by attending the funeral. After the burial of the two ladies who were obviously All Progressive Congress (APC) party stalwarts, he stormed the Umaru Shehu hospital to find out why they treated the women like animals instead of helping them to stay alive. After his tour of the facility which he felt had failed him in spite of all his efforts towards fixing the battered health sector, Governor Zulum called for a probe of hospital staff over the viral video showing accident victims rejected
He actually said he wanted the culprits tried charged and punished within 24 hours. But senior officials in the Ministry felt Philibus must pass through the service rules before being sacrificed for his negligence.
“Zulum, directed the Ministry of Health to investigate and fish out medical staff on duty for allegedly rejecting victims of accidents rushed to Umaru Shehu Ultra Modern Hospital that very day. He gave the directive recently at the Accident and Emergency Unit of the hospital. ” said a statement from the government house.
“The governor’s visit to Umaru Shehu Hospital was in response to a video clip which went viral on social media showing how some medical personnel allegedly rejected accident victims brought to the hospital on a date and time that will be determined by investigators.” said the release.
What happened is “inhuman and unacceptable” Zulum said as he addressed health workers at the hospital.
“A situation where patients are left crying for help, yet a hospital rejects them? We will not allow such a situation to repeat itself. I see no reason why disciplinary action will not be taken against the erring staff in this hospital”, the governor declared.
“If any medical doctor or any personnel in any of our facilities is not willing to attend to patients without cogent reason, he or she should equally be fired without hesitation”, Zulum said.
He added, “Within the next 24 hours, the Hospital Management Board and the Ministry of Health should investigate the incident and ensure disciplinary measures are enforced against all those on duty that refused to admit victims of the accident brought here.”
Governor Zulum noted that the state government has invested heavily in the health sector, including the welfare of the medical officers, across the state, and he called on medical officers to reciprocate the gesture by providing quality healthcare services to all patients without discrimination.”
Meanwhile Ya Kime the prominent female politician that died in the accident in company of her colleague politician Ya Zara have since been buried according to Islamic rites.
How medical staff in Umaru Shehu hospital helped kill accident victims recently
Columns
With Fury of a Tempest, Alau Dam Flood
With Fury of a Tempest, Alau Dam Flood
By: Balami Lazarus
Who wants to be a millionaire? a television quiz program anchored by one Frank Idoho, which I hardly missed. I recalled a question once asked: Where is Lake Alau? In the options, there was Borno state among other states. The young man on the hot seat gave a wrong answer. I believe because Lake Alau was then not popular, unlike its cousin, Lake Chad.
Not much is known about the Lake, Alau, and the dam known and called Lake Alau Dam put together. Let me first start with the lake as a natural geographical feature, a large body of water surrounded by land. However, and to the best of my findings, there is no available written document on the history of this lake in question. But it held that the Lake was there many years traceable to the period of the Kanem- Borno Empire. While the present Alau was a small settlement that emerged during the formative years of Shehu’s dynasty from 1846 to the present day. It later grew into a village with people of Kanuri extraction.
Alau is today part of the Konduga Local Government Area of Borno state, some few kilometers away from Maiduguri city center. For the purpose of providing portable drinking water and to improve agriculture through irrigation farming and fishing, a dam was constructed by the past administration of the state from 1984 to 1986. The project was tagged as Water for Borno. Thereby, Lake Alau Dam has become part of the people’s lives, for its importance cannot be quantified.
The recent Alau Dam flood that nearly swept away the city of Maiduguri came with a raging fury of a tempest in September 2024 I will liken to one of the works of William Shakespeare—”The Tempest.”TheTempest”. That of the play was simply and deliberately raised to humble palace traitor Antonio and his co-conspirators, who ousted Duke Prospero, whom they marooned on a deserted island, leaving him to his fate. But ours came with devastating destruction and killing with ravaging effect from head to tail, which has caused unestimated damage.
The flood was not because of the heavy rainfall experienced last season but from the overflow of the dam and subsequent breakoff of its decks. My last visit to Lake Alau Dam with some friends was years back. What was observed and saw were obsolete facilities that were outdated, old, and weakly decked. There was nothing to show that the dam is being cared for. But while growing up in Zaria as kids, we were so used to seeing Kubani and the University (ABU) dams being opened up to let out large quantities of water to avoid overflow and flooding. Has Alau Dam ever experienced that? Has it been dredged?
Therefore, the 13-man committee led by Mr. Liman Gana Mustapha, a professional town planner, may wish to consider these questions as an inroad to finding a lasting solution to the flood matter.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist. 08036779290
With Fury of a Tempest, Alau Dam Flood
Columns
The Rise and Fall of Garkida, a Social Decline
The Rise and Fall of Garkida, a Social Decline
By: Balami Lazarus
In my recent visit to see my aged mother in Shaffa, a small rural town. In a chat with some of my peers, Garkida came up, and one of us immediately informed the group that the town is socially dredged. I made some findings, and you may wish to agree. I believed students of history my generation were once taught about the rise and fall of great empires, kingdoms, rulers, warriors, and other historical events during our secondary school days. In the cause of those lessons, our imaginations were always taken far to other lands.
We never thought that someday there would be a fall or decline of our own, which could be a town, village, or settlement, but never like the fall of the known historical empires/kingdoms of Oyo, Jukun, Fante/Ashante, Kanem-Borno, Songhai, etc. To rise is a difficult task in life or in the course of growth, be it individual, town, or city. But to fall is easy. Garkida has rose and fallen, or, to say, declined socially. Once a bubbling rural town in Buraland, being in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State has nose-dived from the social ladder.
As a historian, I will not subscribe to the use of the term fall; it will defile my histo-journalistic sense of reasoning because Garkida is a proper noun and is there real. So it will rather go well with me and perhaps some readers of this essay to accept Declined as a better use of historical language for the purpose of this work. I am not a native of Garkida and have never lived there, but it was the home of my cousins and nieces long before now.
As a young man, I had it well with friends when the town was in her social chemistry and apogee. In spite of her decline, the arrears in our kitty, notwithstanding the flow of time, are the mutual friendship, an indelible mark in our social life. I remember clearly as a holiday-maker with my grandmother at Shaffa, Garkida was the in-thing in our youthful days because of the mass social activities that used to take place there.
There were social interactions with friends and relatives from different places, parties of all kinds—a social front burner. And to most of my peers, it was the center of today’s mobile social handle—Facebook, where you meet and make new friends. That was Garkida for us. As a rural town, it flourished with glamour, elegance, and pride, triggered by the social engineering of Who is Who? The creme de la creme of her sons and daughters who made nane in their vocations or professions that promoted and spread the name of Garkida as social lighthouse.
It was the abode of top military brass in the ranks of generals. Her businessmen once made the town tick as a cluster of has. It was the nerve of vogue and socialites in Buraland. There was declined in this capacity. Historically, Garkida came to the limelight and appeared on the colonial map of Nigeria in 1923, when the white Christian missionaries of CBN/EYN first settled there and made it their home on the 17th March of the aforementioned year. The beginning of her social mobility started in the 1970s, through the 1980s, to the dawn of the 1990s, her zenith.
I doff my hat for the united daughters of Garkida; credit goes to them; their exposures, taste, beauty, love, elegance, sophistication, unity of purpose, and social agrandisement made them wives of husbands of men from far and near who are of different walks of life. The women of Garkida were a central force, once the venus de milo of the town before its social decline. I cannot conclude this article without appreciating the fact that Garkida was the center of learning and vocational training and once the hold of good and efficient healthcare services in Buraland and its neighbors. Today, Garkida is no longer in the vantage position.
Balami, a Publisher/Columnist, 08036779290.
Columns
Kashim Shettima, Leadership, and the Flood in Maiduguri
Kashim Shettima, Leadership, and the Flood in Maiduguri
By Dr. James Bwala
These past few days, I have been thinking back on the flood in Maiduguri. I have spoken with at least thirty people who have been impacted by the flood, and their responses and comments regarding the flood and Vice President Kashim Shettima’s leadership struck me as something people had never observed at the worst of this natural calamity. In addition to highlighting the environmental issues the area is facing, the recent flooding in Maiduguri has also highlighted the leadership style of Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima. Due to excessive rainfall, a section of the Alau dam broke, and insufficient drainage systems, the region’s already preexisting socioeconomic vulnerabilities have been made worse by the floods. In light of this, Shettima’s reaction and crisis management techniques are worthy of close scrutiny.
Shettima’s proactive attitude to governance, especially during times of crisis, has frequently been described as a hallmark of his leadership style. During his term as Borno State’s governor, he made large infrastructural improvements meant to increase the state’s resilience to severe catastrophes. Notwithstanding these endeavors, Maiduguri’s persistent shortcomings in urban planning and emergency preparedness are brought to light by the latest floods. It is admirable how Shettima can organize resources and interact with the community in times of need.
The former Borno State governor and current vice president of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima, has taken the lead in resolving these crises. His proactive approach to leadership is marked by a desire to both build community resilience and lessen the effects of natural disasters. Shettima has advocated for long-term infrastructure improvements in addition to organizing resources for emergency relief operations in response to the flooding issue. Through collaboration with several entities, such as non-governmental organizations and foreign agencies, his objective is to furnish those impacted by the floods with basic amenities like potable water, food, and medical support.
Nigeria’s VP Kashim Shettima
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Severe flooding has caused serious problems for Maiduguri and made the humanitarian crises already plaguing the area worse. Kashim Shettima’s prompt action has been essential in meeting the impacted communities’ urgent needs. He took preemptive steps to deliver relief supplies such as food, medical supplies, and shelter for displaced people by organizing local resources and liaising with national agencies. This prompt action not only demonstrates good leadership, but it also emphasizes how crucial leadership is in emergency situations.
The Vice President’s strategy included a thorough evaluation of the flooding damage, which made it possible to identify the most vulnerable groups for focused actions. Through his interactions with local officials and citizens, he made sure that relief efforts were appropriate for the setting and sensitive to cultural differences. By encouraging a sense of ownership among local stakeholders, this participatory technique improved confidence in government activities.
Different stakeholders in the state have responded differently to the visit of Nigeria’s vice president, Kashim Shettima, to address flood victims. Numerous localities have experienced devastation as a result of the extraordinary floods, which has resulted in property and human casualties. Many of the victims Shettima spoke with expressed hope that his presence would spur government action to provide desperately needed relief and to begin rehabilitation efforts. The significance of direct involvement from high-ranking officials was underscored by community leaders, who saw it as an indication that their predicament is being recognized on a national scale.
Kashim Shettima spoke about the suffering of flood victims who have been badly impacted by unusual flooding while on a recent visit to Maiduguri. His words were meant to be comforting, but they also served as a guide for healing and restoration. Shettima underlined the necessity of unity and group efforts to address this environmental catastrophe. He emphasized that in order to ensure that relief efforts are efficient and timely, the government would mobilize resources to aid individuals who have been displaced by the floods.
Shettima’s speech also emphasized how crucial community resilience is to surviving tragedies like this. He asked residents and local authorities to work together with government organizations to identify high-risk locations and put precautionary measures in place to avoid similar flooding incidents in the future. Shettima sought to empower communities while easing their immediate pains through coordinated relief activities by encouraging a sense of shared responsibility.
Dr. James Bwala, PhD, writes from Abuja.
Kashim Shettima, Leadership, and the Flood in Maiduguri
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