Nigerian boy, 3 years after, waits for surgery at LASUTH

A Nigerian boy, Abdul Bassit Ibrahim, has been on the queue since 2009 to have a hernia operation at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, reflecting the acute inadequacy of health facilities in a Nigerian state that calls itself a center of excellence, a newspaper report says.

Parents of the boy said he was

His mother, Mrs. Silifat Ibrahim, told The Punch newspaper that she brought Ibrahim to the hospital in 2009 when she noticed a swelling in his reproductive organ at age five.

“We came to LASUTH in 2009 and after thorough examination, he was diagnosed with hernia. One of his testes was swollen and it was causing him a lot of discomfort and he could not play or move with it.

“We felt the surgery would be done as soon as possible but to our surprise, we were asked to come back in March 2010 for the operation. When I complained, I was told that there were hundreds of patients waiting for the same surgery at the unit,” she stated.

“But to her dismay, Tawakalit said when they came back to the hospital on the day of the operation the following year, they were turned back again.

“She said, “I was at the hospital in March 2010 to keep the date for the hernia surgery but to my dismay we were given another date for 2011.They said they still had a spill over of patients from 2010.They advised us to be coming for check-ups at the clinic.”

“Tawakalit said when they returned for the operation in 2011, her son’s file was missing and they were turned back again.

“I started crying and called my husband, who told me to threaten them that they would take the matter up in his office (a media house). It was not until I told them that, that they started running up and down and later told me to come back the next day.”

“They were subsequently given another date for November this year.

But the family received the shock of their lives when they took Basit to the hospital in November and they were told to come back in 2013, four years after he was initially billed for the surgery.

“When Ibrahim first visited the hospital, he was five years old and now he is nine. We see other patients lamenting that they have been coming even before 2009. My fear is that they may also postpone the surgery from 2013 to 2014.

The young lad’s story was not the only story of endless waiting as another patient said she has been on the row for a thyroid gland operation since January 2011.

The hospital authorities did not deny the report as the chief medical director, Professor David Oke said the hospital has embarked on a policy of recruiting more medical personnel and expanding its operating theatres.

“We can only accommodate what we can. When our beds are full, they are full. The work before LASUTH is enormous, we have patients on referrals not just from hospitals within Lagos, patients also come from Osun, Oyo, Kaduna states, Abuja and as far as Benin Republic,” Oke was quoted to have said.