Moving stories of LUTH’s abandoned patients

PUNCH - BUKOLA ADEBAYO narrates the stories of abandoned patients who now live at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

After the school hours every day, most pupils of the University of Lagos Staff School, Akoka,Yaba, rush into the warm embrace of their parents. From there, they are driven to their various homes where various kinds of delicacies are waiting for them.

But for 16-year-old Chinenye  Ogbonna, this kind of experience exists only in his dream. He has no parent waiting for him,  nor any other relative to take him home. Rather, he returns to his ‘lonely’ room at the Paediatric  Ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Idi-Araba, Lagos.  This is not because his dad and mom live there. But the parents, who ought to be his guardian angels,  abandoned him at the hospital six years ago.

The motherless boy has, therefore, become a permanent resident of LUTH since he was 10 years old. Ogbonna, who spoke to our correspondent when he returned from school on Monday, said none of his relations had shown up since they left him at the ward in 2007.

Relating  the circumstances that led to his becoming a permanent resident of D3 Ward of LUTH, Ogbonna said his maternal  grandparents brought him to the children’s clinic after he suffered a fall six years ago.

According to him, he lost his mother when he was four years old and has never met his father. But after his mom’s demise, Ogbonna went to live with his grandparents at a place he says he cannot remember.

Ogbonna, who is fondly called the Captain of the ward by nurses, members of staff and other patients,  since he knows every nook and cranny of the clinic better than some of them, said it was the last time he saw his grandfather.

“I lived with my mother before she died and I never knew my father. I was told he never accepted me. So, I lived with my mum’s parents after her death. I remember that I fell down and I could not walk for months. My grandma was trying to care for me at home, but they decided that we should come to LUTH.

“ I came with my grandfather that day. I was admitted into the children’s ward, and he left a bag full of clothes and provisions by my bedside and promised that he would be back the next day, saying he could not sleep over since he was old .

“He held onto me for a long time, cried and left. I waited for him the next day. I did not see him. I expected him or my grandma or my cousin, Austin, who was living with us. But they never came back to check me. The doctors started treating me and feeding me till I was strong enough to walk again. But I could not leave and nobody has come for me till today.”

Why they abandoned me

One of the nurses at the ward told our correspondent that Ogbonna’s grandparents had left a message in the bag of clothing they left beside his sick bed.

She said, “We found a letter in the food and clothes they left behind, written by his grandparents,  saying they were tired of bearing the burden alone. They said they had tried for Ogbonna but they could not afford to go on and pleaded with government to take over.”

Ogbonna interrupted at this point, saying he knew why his grandparents might have taken that decision.

“I have a hunchback. This, he added, had caused a lot of agony and shame for his late mother’s family and his estranged father’s.

He  noted, “I remember that they did not allow me to play with other children in the area. I hardly came out of the compound because they did not want people to see me. It could have been the reason why they did that.”

After all efforts by social workers to trace his family yielded no result, the management of the hospital, nurses, medical students, patients in the ward and philanthropic Nigerians  started taking care of him.

He said,” After I started walking. I had a lesson teacher and a nurse who used to come and teach me. Gradually, I began to read and write. Then I started primary school and I will soon be through. Since I have been living here, the hospital, nurses and patients have showed me love. They feed and clothe me. They are even the ones responsible for my schooling.”

But Ogbonna, who wants to be an engineer in future, still has not given up on the hope that he can be reconciled with his family.

He said, “I will like to have a family, so, I can say this is my father or uncle. I am okay here, but I would want to live in a proper home, not in a hospital ward. Wherever my relatives are, they should please come for me.”

Ogbonna is, however, not the only child in such a situation. There are others who are abandoned in the hospital by poor parents.  Chindinma Sunday is one of them. His parents left him at the children emergency ward of the hospital 20 years ago, when he was just three years old.

The young man, who moves around with the aid of a wheelchair, is also very popular among the doctors, nurses and members of staff of LUTH. Sunday, who took our correspondent to his corner at the B Ward, said his life had been full of pains and joy since his parents left him at the hospital.

He said, “I was told I was left here in 1993. I had an injury on my leg and I could not walk and that is all I remember. I have not seen anybody since I came in here. This is the only home I have known  in the last 20 years.”

One of the matrons in the ward,  who tried to narrate how he was dumped in the hospital, said Sunday’s mother also left a note with the food items she left with him.

She said, “His mother had brought him to the children’s ward for treatment for his leg. That day, we saw a child, all alone, crying and a note beside him, saying we should take care of him. They left a paper bearing his name on him. They said they did not have the money to pay for his upkeep, so we should assist them.”

Waiting for admission

He has since completed his primary education at the UNILAG Staff School and the Atunda-Olu School for the Physically Challenged, Lagos. He has also completed his secondary education at the Friends of the Disabled Educational Vocational Centre, Lagos Island.

But his present challenge is how to scale the admission hurdle to the university.

“Honestly, it has not been easy. I have written the UTME twice, but I’m yet to gain admission. I’m looking at YABATECH this year, but I need sponsorship. I learnt shoe making while I was in school and that is what I do now to survive.

“It has been God, the nurses, my school mates and the medical students that have been there for me. The hospital has been feeding me and has provided accommodation for me since I was three. If not for that, I would be out on the streets. Kind Nigerians also donate to my welfare from time to time,” he said.

Sunday noted that everyday he prays and waits for the opportunity to meet his biological parents for them to answer some of his questions.

He added that though he had nursed some bitterness towards his family while growing up, he was ready to leave the past behind and move on if they would accept him.

“I want a better life, I want to know so many things I do not know about myself, like my state, my origin, and if I have siblings. I have no clue as to who I am,  really; all I know is my name. Most importantly, I want to know why they abandoned me.

“I’m ready to forgive them so I can have a family again. I’m praying that one day, a miracle will happen, they will come,” Sunday said.

He also called on government to provide educational and infrastructural support for physically challenged persons so that they could lead normal lives and not constitute a burden to the society.

He said, “I had to leave my first school in primary three for another because the classrooms were on a two-storey building,  which I found difficult to climb. It has not been easy moving around when I’m outside the hospital.

“By providing structures that support our livelihood, government  and other stakeholders would be  saying we are all equal. But when you don’t, then there is going to be discrimination. We should be able to learn, live and work with others in the society. They should also provide welfare facilities for the physically challenged who desire education.”

Abodunrin: Born in a festive season

However, two other abandoned children at LUTH, Samuel and Abodunrin, would need a miracle for them to live normally. They are paraplegic.

The paediatric ward of the hospital has been their home in the last seven years.

They are living with cerebral palsy, which means they cannot walk or talk. They require assistance to eat, bathe and walk for the better part of their lives.

The Chief Medical Social Worker at the hospital, Mrs. Kehinde Aikomo, who has been supervising the welfare of these mentally-challenged children, told our correspondent that if not for the hospital and efforts of well meaning Nigerians, Samuel and Abodunrin would have died.

Aikomo said the two were abandoned at the hospital in 2007 with no letter after they were treated.

“Samuel was abandoned at the children’s clinic in 2006 by his mother. She left him with another mother,  saying she was going to buy drugs and begged the patient to help her watch over him. She never came back.

“We also found Abodunrin at the emergency ward with clothes beside her and no note. Her parents brought her as an emergency and said they were going to the bank. They did not come back. We named her Abodunrin because she came during the festive period. Sometimes, when parents do not leave a note, we name the child after the season, such as Valentine or something else.”

Aikomo said  it was often difficult to trace the roots of abandoned children with neurological disorders like Samuel and Abodunrin, as most families do not want to associate with disabled children.

She said, “We find many of these abandoned patients in labour wards. The mothers,  after delivery,  quietly walked out of the hospital,  leaving their babies behind. They do this because they cannot afford the bills or because the babies have severe disabilities.

“They leave them,  believing it’s a public hospital, government will take care of them. We treat the children, take charge of their welfare and also try to reconcile them with their families, but it is difficult in cases of children, as many were left here at a very young age. So,  it’s almost impossible for them to remember where they came from.”

It is not just children that are abandoned in the hospital; some accidents victims also suffer similar fate. Tunrayo Adedokun is one of them. She was rushed in by good Samaritans after she was involved in a road accident to the A&E unit of the hospital last year.

Adedokun, who lives at the female ward of the hospital, generally keeps to herself.

When our correspondent visited her on Wednesday morning, the nurses were cajoling her to have her breakfast.  One of the nurses said she also suffered severe injuries to the head,  which may have affected her memory.

Aikomo said, “After she got better, we tried to trace her background. We found a passbook on her with a name different from the one she gave us. We went to her bank, they gave us addresses she left as referees and we even saw her picture. It stated that she’s a nurse.

“We visited the addresses but nobody knows her. She’s always shouting  ‘Adewale, my husband’, but how do we trace that? It seems she did not exist except for the information in the bank account.”

Aikomo said the hospital had also tried to place these abandoned patients in homes, but they were often turned down.

“ We have written to the state government to  help us place them in orphanages, old people’s homes and rehabilitation centres, but they keep saying they do not have space; but we will keep trying or their relatives can come for them.”

Their parents should come for them – LUTH CMD

Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Akin Oshibogun,  said LUTH usually made provisions for these abandoned patients’ welfare through an indigent fund.

Oshibogun said, “Good Samaritans rush patients involved in accidents here and we must not reject them or abandon them. We treat them, hoping the relatives will come for them; but when they don’t, we provide relief through the Friends of the Needy Fund. Wealthy Nigerians also donate to this fund from time to time. That is what we use to care for them till they find their families.

“I remember Azeez. He came in as a renal patient. He was also abandoned. He was taken to Germany for surgery. He stayed here for almost 10 years before his parents later showed up for him. He is living well now. We have them from time to time.”

Oshibogun, however, said the hospitals management could not afford to keep these patients for life. He, therefore, called on well meaning Nigerians to come and adopt the children especially.

He noted that in order to encourage families not to abandon their loved ones in hospitals when they had health challenges, Nigerians must embrace the health insurance policy.

“Very few people can afford to pay the full cost of care for handicap or some complex surgeries. On the long run, Nigerians must take health insurance more seriously; that is the way they can be secured in any case of unforeseen health challenges.

“We are also calling on the relations to come forward and claim them. We have stabilised them. They cannot even pay the bill of a patient we have been taking care of for 10 years. They should come and claim them or adopt them to give them a chance at life,” Oshibogun added