Dashed Hope: Five years after Govenor Yahaya Bello pledged, bedridden medical student appeals for help.

These were the soothing words of the Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, in 2016, towards lifting a paralysed graduating veterinary medical student of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Suleiman Hassan.

The event was part of the activities to mark Mr Bello’s second anniversary in office, and as captured by the Lokoja station of the African Independent Television (AIT), the announcement was accompanied by thunderous claps from a cheering audience.

Earlier in 2016, the governor had donated N5 million to settle Mr Hassan’s accumulated bills at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Lokoja, and for his urgently required plastic surgery to cushion the effect of bedsore his condition caused.

A similar story published by PREMIUM TIMES at the time had attracted the governor’s attention to the patient’s plight then.

Wheeled to the event, Mr Hassan, among other beneficiaries of the governor’s medical interventions, had thanked and prayed for Mr Bello profusely.

Buoyed by the sense of appreciation, the governor pledged to do more, and for Mr Hassan in particular.

But five years later, there is yet no word from the governor, as the patient’s condition has now degenerated. He is now being threatened with ejection by the hospital management over-accumulation of unpaid bills and the facility’s seemingly helplessness.

On June 18, 2013, shortly after completing his clinical presentation and awaiting his final year project defence, Mr Hassan embarked on a trip from Zaria, his university’s host community to back home in Lokoja, Kogi State capital.

He was then 28 years old and was full of life with dreams to become a successful veterinary doctor in a couple of months. But that was not to be.

Few kilometres to Lokoja, the commercial bus Hassan boarded from Zaria was involved in a ghastly accident, which left many of its occupants dead.

Narrating his experience to PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter in June, the now 35-year-old man, who has remained paralysed since 2013, said his attempt to stand up at the scene of the accident was the straw that broke his proverbial camel’s back.

“When the officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) visited the scene, I regained my consciousness; then I tried to stand up and I felt a sharp pain and that was it. Eight years down the line, I have not been able to stand up,” he narrated.

He said he was taken to the FMC in Lokoja where he was diagnosed with severe spinal cord injury.

“But the hospital said it could not manage my case,” he said.

Mr Hassan was transferred to Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, where he spent two excruciating years.

He said; “The neurosurgeons did their best to stabilise and prepare me for spinal surgery which could be conducted at UDUTH at the time but the doctors realised I was not fit for surgery. They said I had breathing issues, among other complications.”

But with the help of family members and the ABU management, his bills were paid.

However, as a result of the complications, Mr Hassan’s health continued to deteriorate. He soon developed bedsore and due to his situation, he said he no longer received support from the hospital management.

Mr Hassan said he requested to be transferred back to the FMC in Lokoja for lack of support.

“Since the FMC Lokoja said it could not carry out the surgery, my details including history, examination and investigations were sent to India and I was told that a feedback assured that an operation that would require roughly N11 million naira would be required,” he explained.

However, five years after the quotation was received, PREMIUM TIMES learnt the same surgery would now cost about N15 million due to inflation.

According to medical reports obtained from the FMC where he’s been readmitted since 2015, Mr Suleiman sustained “complete cord transection with quadriplegia with multiple pressure ulcer.”

Spinal cord transection is a devastating condition, leading to permanent disability especially among young people.

Spinal cord injuries, according to health experts, may result from damage to the vertebrae, ligaments or disks of the spinal column or to the spinal cord itself.

Suleiman sustained “complete cord transection with quadriplegia with multiple pressure ulcer”, X-ray and medical reports showed.
Suleiman sustained “complete cord transection with quadriplegia with multiple pressure ulcer”, X-ray and medical reports showed.
“Additional damage usually occurs over days or weeks because of bleeding, swelling, inflammation and fluid accumulation in and around the spinal cord,” experts say.

A survey by Flint Rehab says about 47 per cent of all spinal cord injuries result in incomplete quadriplegia, making it the most common type of spinal cord injury.

According to the medical report, only Mr Hassan’s face, neck and arms are alive with movement for other parts of his body paralysed from the waist down.

But Mr Hassan recalled the devastating accident that left him paralysed eight years ago with a calm acceptance underpinned by defiance.

Doctors say all that he needs now is a spinal cord surgery and he could rise again.

That was the message of hope Mr Bello received in 2016 when he pledged additional support for Mr Hassan.

Since Mr Bello’s promise in 2016, days turned into weeks and weeks into months but Mr Hassan and his family did not hear anything from neither the governor personally nor from the state government regarding the pledge.

“We made several attempts to reach the government to remind them of the pledge. We channelled our reminders through our local government chairman at the time and the commissioner for solid minerals to plead on our behalf but all efforts yielded no positive outcome,” Mr Hassan told our reporter sobbing.