Muda Oyeniran was at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital where he met with these children, abandoned by their own family members. His report.
While some children, irrespective of disability and circumstance of their birth are pampered and loved by their parents, some others would have wished that they were never born. This category are those that have been rejected and abandoned by the same people that brought them into this world. The latter depicts the fate of some children at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH), Idi- Araba who have never seen their parents before or experienced what parental care is all about.
Most of these children, who were probably rejected by their biological parents due to one disability or the other now live at the mercy of the nurses at LUTH who have by fate become their fathers and mothers. Aside this, some good Samaritans also offer one form of assistance to these unfortunate children.
For 13-year old Chineye Ogbonna, a native of Arachuckwu, Imo State, who was brought to the children ward of LUTH by his maternal grandfather on December 26, 2008 due to severe pain in his hunchback, he has never seen his father since he was born while his mother is late. Unfortunately for him, his grandfather who brought him never showed up at the hospital since then.
According to Chineye, his grandfather by the name Alloy Okoro, who he claimed worked in Radio Nigeria, brought him to LUTH from the Lord of Chosen Church, Okokomaiko, where he was taken for spiritual help after he could not walk after suffering pain in his hunchback for six months.
“Ever since my grandfather brought me here, he has never come back to see me. I don’t even know whether anybody is aware that I am here”, he added.
Confirming Chineye’s claim, Mrs Olubunmi Sobogun, a Chief Nursing Officer at the Children’s Ward told the Nigerian Tribune that Chineye’s grandfather, who brought him, gave the hospital a wrong address making it difficult for the hospital’s social workers to be able to locate him. “He also gave us a wrong phone number so there was no way we could reach him. So it was the boy that told us that he was actually abandoned at Lord of Chosen Church, Okokomaiko”, she added
Speaking on his health condition, Sobogun said the boy was diagnosed with Tuberculosis(TB) Spine leading to his inability to walk. However, she said the boy began to walk after he was treated at the hospital for one month.
He is also currently enjoying the magnanimity of LUTH’s management as the hospital has enrolled him at the University of Lagos Staff School. According to him, he is currently in Primary 3.
The case of three-year old Ogechi Obiakor, who was abandoned by her mother about a year ago, was particularly dramatic. Her mother who is an HIV positive patient abandoned her at the HIV clinic in LUTH on December 23, 2010 after she complained that her baby was having diarrhea, vomiting and fever.” The mother ran away after she pretended to go and buy drugs prescribed by the doctor. We have not seen her since then. She gave the name of Ogechi’s father as Erobi Maghdalene. Surprisingly, Ogechi is HIV-negative. We have run the test on her a couple of times and she has proved to be negative”, she added.
If Chineye and Ogechi’s case is disheartening, then the case of David (named by LUTH) is pathetic as he was found abandoned by an unknown person and picked by somebody at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL) gate on September 10 last year. David cannot talk, walk or even crawl. He is estimated to be about two years-old. Nurses said he is suffering from a brain disease known as cerebral palsy.
At children Ward D3, one would also be moved to tears to see “abandoned Samuel” and “abandoned Abodunrin” the helplessly. While the former was picked by good Samaritans behind the LUTH’s mortuary on May 26, 2006 the latter’s mother abandoned her at the paediatric outpatient section on December 10, 2007 on the pretext that she was going to get something for the poor girl.
According to the Chief Nursing Officer at the ward, Mrs Grace Adeleke, the two children were suffering from cerebral palsy(brain damage) adding that they could not do anything on their own. “They cannot talk, feed, sit. We bathe them, barb their hairs and we feed them through the nose(nasogastric tube); we give them total nursing care. The names “Samuel” and “Abodunrin” were given to them at LUTH.
http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/features/31190-born-to-suffer-sad-story-of-luths-abandoned-children
