Dying in London

Dying in London

Isa Sanusi

It looks like even in where to die, the Nigerian elite distinguishes himself from the ordinary, common fellow countrymen. Since the decline and it seems the hopeless malfunction of the nation’s health care system, the rich and the powerful have found a convenient way of running away from a problem they have created. A slight headache leads to a trip to London, Germany or any of the luxury hospitals in Spain. Serious health complications often coupled with old age direct the way to European hospitals and in most cases return from such trips is made in the comfort of a casket.

No one chooses where he or she shall die. However, the poor Nigerian has no choice than to live, treat illnesses and ultimately die in Nigeria. It may be on the potholed roads, in the hands of armed robbers or in any of the hospitals that make our big men wise for frequenting hospitals in the very heart of cities that produce our colonizers. Go to any of the public hospitals and you don’t need to be told that, those who die in London have no any other choice. There is nothing like care in the character and even the looks of our medical personnel. They tend to behave like their compatriots in the police. They see their service as fundamentally a business. The doctors may not even be upto date in their fields while the nurses may have been nursing some hardships of life that strip them of all forms of kindness. Then, the hospital, if it is public will be lacking all the important working tools. Drugs- you think of having them only if you have the cash-a lot of cash. For any form of surgery, before even thinking of paying the cost, one would have to buy a lot of diesel. This takes care of power that was meant to always fail. The gravity of having power cut while a surgery is on can best be imagined-but it has now graduated into a reality. Touts are not restricted to motor parks; the business has now got a space in hospitals. In case of emergency and the endless queue at the door of the doctor on call is unbearable, touts come to rescue. It takes a few naira and they will get you to see the doctor. It will not matter if the doctor really gets a good idea of your illness-afterall the queue is long and everything has to be rushed. Blood test and every other type of test come at a high cost. In case of private clinics, the story is slightly different, negatively. The cost is always high but not the standard. The doctor or the clinic is a business. Doctor ensures that no matter your illness it fits into the drugs available in his stock. Sales must be made. In case you developed complications, it will mean more money for the business and you pay more and more. Likely, you end up getting worst. Expecting women see hell before even going into the labour room. Oh, water, it is likely to be either unhygienic or unavailable in the hospital or clinic. The taps are supposed to be dry so that looking for water while taking care of the sick can teach you the lesson of life in nation ruined by greedy men and women. Have you ever taken somebody to hospital and you are told that the doctor on duty has gone out with his wife- to hair saloon?

All these may happen to you if only you are privileged to have been living in what we call cities. In case of those living in places modestly called urban areas, the villages and hamlets these experiences sound much like shedding tears without any cause for crying. In these places, there is nothing like hospital, clinic or health care centre. The people we call villagers never expect the luxury of hospital, they make do with herbs and other undefined forms of medication. They know that they are not entitled to health care and they don’t expect it, not even to talk of demanding for it. If sickness leads to death, they bury the deceased and pray for him or her. Have you ever heard about the villager whose wife was on the brink of death and he took her on his donkey to the nearest hospital. At the gate of the hospital, he was told that donkeys are not allowed here. Then, yes then his wife died. Alone, he matched back in tears to the village with the lesson that, those who owned and use donkeys as mobility are not welcomed in hospitals.

In such a situation, it is pleasing to read newspapers and listen to, or watch television. You will see a big man beaming with heavy weight, telling you that government had transformed the nation’s health care system. If it were in the routine budget season, the hefty and empty document will carry subheads saying billions have been ‘set aside’ for health. Hundreds of millions will be for buying drugs and facilities will gulp other billions. All of us may not know that the same person reading those figures may have just returned from medical check up in London. His wife may have been going to London for prenatal, antenatal and all other cares that ensure safe delivery.

If you are promised a hospital in your area and the foundation even been laid, then the contract may have been the motive and not your well being. Somebody will have to be rich and contract is the easiest means. If you are lucky that the hospital has been completed then, don’t laugh, the contract for the supply of facilities may have been awarded to a friend, girlfriend or even a godfather. Who will question people in this category if they decide to supply in the day and take back in the night? Let us say the facilities are supplied, check, they may be old but polished with paint. They are meant to be of use for the brief session when ribbon will be cut and cameras will take pictures. The building may look elegant but don’t dare go inside if at all you want to remain hopeful in the future.

Before the international HIV/AIDS conference in Abuja, anti retroviral drugs are sold even though they were supplied free and on the understanding that they will be given out free to those in need. But the sale was not informed by wickedness; it was in the spirit of deregulation. In that spirit, Nigerians are supposed to taste the syrup of deregulation even if they are in face-me-i-face-you situation with death.

Leaving everything in black and white, may not be good for democracy and that may be the reason why we have, National Health Insurance Scheme. This scheme is good for Nigerians except that they don’t ever seem to understand it. Was it meant to service workers or only those who work for the whole of thirty days, often coming to work on empty stomach based on the mere hope of seeing the pay day?

There is logic in paying doctors and nurses poorly. There is logic in making drugs unavailable while claiming otherwise in records. There is wisdom in not expanding hospitals while population grows daily. Foresight is manifest in giving false attention to health care of the people. The overall wisdom is that, this situation gives a few people the privilege of dying somewhere around America or Europe. But what difference will it make whether you die in Luxemburg or Bulatura?

Isa Sanusi, Abuja-Nigeria.