Our Health Our Wealth

The late Yobe State Governor died, where did he die? California. Where did Stella Obasanjo die? Somewhere abroad even though she went for plastic surgery. Yar’adua our president travels abroad frequently for medical checkups, I could go on and on.

Every year we have thousands of medical students who graduate as doctors but do not have the platform to train themselves and learn more outside the classroom. My immediate younger brother is in his fourth year in med school and one day (thanks to Michael Palmer and Grey’s Anatomy) I was asking him if we have MRI scanners in our hospitals and he said only Ibadan teaching hospital has, I don’t even know if LUTH has one. Is it not heart wrenching that we have political leaders who appear from nowhere every four years with promises upon promises and none of them cares to look critically at our medical system because they can afford to go abroad for treatment. What hope is there for the poor man then? What hope is there for a pensioner? What hope is there for the cobbler on the street?

I had an uncle who had kidney failure, the family raised money, sold plots of family land in the village just to ensure that millions of naira was raised to fly him to India for surgery (a transplant) because apparently, we do not have such equipment here. We raised the money eventually and the operation was successful. He returned and everyone was delighted, we had a thanksgiving mass here in lagos and in the villa and everyone was excited. After a few months he started having trouble again, the kidney was infected by God knows what even after observing everything the doctor asked him not to eat, extensive tests were run both in India and South Africa (not Nigeria), he went to India for checkups, all to no avail. Eventually we lost him. We consoled ourselves with the fact that we tried all we could as humans and it was worth it because we got him extra time and I believe he settled with his God.

What am I getting at? Let us assume that he did not have friends and a family that cared for him, let’s assume that we were not able to raise the huge sum of money to send him abroad, what would have happened? We would have blamed ourselves but we did the best we could and we still lost him. Doesn’t life just suck? There are people with such diseases out there that cannot afford to buy drugs to manage them because these drugs are so expensive, they are as expensive as five thousand naira for a tablet of medicine, there are people who can barely afford three square meals in this country, in our neighbourhood, who cannot raise that amount of money even with family and friends, what hope is there for them?

In this part of the world we are not particularly concerned about our health, we have an ailment but as long as we can move about and continue our daily routines, we are okay. Is that the right attitude? What with cancer on the increase daily? It’s been discovered that cervical, breast and prostate cancers are the most common in Africa. On CNN's "Vital signs" they were talking about a laser tool that helps doctors get into the brain to remove tumors without doing damage. When will Nigeria get there? Probably when our generation is long gone.

While we do not have the best health system, the onus is on us to take care of ourselves first; we have a headache, do not take it for granted and say “it’s just a headache”, it could be your body telling you something, you take it for granted and by the time you go to the doctor it is already too late. Terminal illnesses are not discovered early enough in Nigeria, it is when we are on the verge of death that we run to the hospital looking for a miracle. The poor doctors who are ill equipped try to manage the illness (the terminal ones), and we keep accumulating bills we until eventually die.

If we have good governance in this country, our teaching hospitals would be better equipped and people can trust that they’ll get if not the best, something close to the best. Instead they squander all the money and go on vacations frequently, get the best healthcare and leave the poor poor masses to their fate. In America, bank executives shared the profits while the country is facing her worst financial crises so far in history and it’s making the headlines. there’s an outcry and Obama is airing his distaste at the behavior. While I was watching CNN you know what I thought to myself? What would Obama say if he came to Nigeria and witnessed it here especially since we don’t even bat our eyelids since it’s an everyday affair here.

We should not wait for the government to implement policies before you take care of your health, take control by eating healthily and going for REGULAR medical check up.
The earlier we begin to take care of our health, the better for us. Eat right, exercise, drink with moderation, stop smoking, get enough sleep, drink water, and avoid excess meat… I could go on and on. Some people would say “I know someone that smokes but he’s still alive and kicking even at seventy, how much more me?’’ you and that person are not the same people, it might work for him but will it work for you? “Na one thing go kill man abi”, but it still doesn’t hurt to do the right thing. While I agree that there are no guarantees in life, I still insist that we should try to do the right thing where our health is concerned. After all, it is when we are healthy that we can work, play, have fun and take care of our familes and even plan a perfect or almost perfect valentine gift.