Posted by By HENRY CHUKWURAH, Port Harcourt on
A housewife in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, is now battling to stay alive one year after she had surgery during childbirth.
A housewife in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, is now battling to stay alive one year after she had surgery during childbirth.
Standing between Mrs Docas Ekwereogu and life is about N400, 000. But her husband, 31-year-old Sunday Ekwereogu, is unemployed.
But if Dorcas even raised the money today, she is unlikely to get attention at any public hospital as patients are being prematurely discharged in observance of a 'warning strike" staged by resident doctors who want better pay and conditions of service.
For more than one year now, Sunday Ekwereogu has been a regular face at many hospitals in desperate search for cure to an ailment that struck his pretty wife shortly after she had a Caesarian Section (CS).
An indigene of Bukuru in Lantang Local Government Area of Plateau State, Dorcas' problems started January 14, last year, while in labour, and she could not deliver normally.
Surprisingly, the doctor that handled her case in a private hospital at Ubeta, Ekwereogu's hometown in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, allegedly disregarded the fact that she was convulsing and went ahead to perform the surgery. Ever since, neither the woman nor her husband, a former Caterer at the Rivers State Liaison Office in Abuja , has known peace.
Mr. Ekwereogu told Sunday Sun that shortly after the operation that gave the couple a baby boy, Anderson, his wife lost the use of her eyes and limbs.
'I have carried her to several hospitals including the state-owned Braithwaite Memorial Hospital (BMH) in Port Harcourt and University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) from where we were referred to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu.
Mr. Ekwereogu said doctors at the UNTH told him to source about N400,000 for the 'C.T Scan" and treatment. His present predicament is how to raise the money to save his wife's life.
He said that previous efforts he made to raise funds, including several SOS to his former boss, Governor Peter Odili, some top government officials and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was not successful.
'I have sent several S.O.S to Governor Peter Odili who incidentally, I served as a steward at the Governor's Lodge, Abuja , and the NDDC. So far, no reaction has come from any of them."