Monday’s Sit at Home
They came since Sunday, and were not very much attended to because the proper doctor was not on seat. On Monday, the day the doctor was supposed to be there, he wasn’t because doctors feared for their lives. Their daughter daughter was having hypatitis which aided in reducing her blood to 19%.
On Tuesday, I went for my check up and saw her daughter lying on a cushion as if dead. I asked the mother and she said that her daughter’s blood was 19%.
Hearing this, I had to furiously shout at the nurse on the reason why she had not been attended to and why the sick daughter was there instead being at the emergency.
Her blood samples was taken immediately, and instead of waiting for the wheel chair, I mandated the father to help me out in taking her towards the emergency section. There she was attended to as I hurried the nurses and the emergency protocols.
I went back and they collected my own blood sample because that was the reason why I came before meeting the sorry situation.
As I wanted to go, I had to check on them. The mother told me with red eyes that they needed blood for her daughter and no donor was available. So, I opted to donate immediately, since it was critical.
The mother called me by the side and in a tearful words, wanted to negotiate the price for the blood donation with me. Here your guess of the outcome is correct. I really pitied the mom still negotiating the price of blood in the midst of life and death.
This world ehh!
The daughter was revived at the emergency by drips because she had lost so much energy. And I was so happy to see her revived though she was still in need of blood.
But, before donating the blood,we(I and another Priest friend) had to engage the Chief nurse on the rate of mortality in the hospital. Her observations were striking:
She said that the number of deaths increased since the Monday sit at home began akin to the time of the peak of Covid 19 and End SARS protest. She mentioned that their mortuary is filled up again like in those times.
Noteworthy, she said that the reason is that the health workers in the hospital also fear for their lives during Monday’s sit at home. These range from the doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists, x-ray workers, and those in other departments.
Now, sometimes people call the hospital doctors from their homes but the doctors can’t do anything on those days.
Also, even if the sick person is brought to the hospital at any risk for ndị obi kara(for the strong minded), there will be no doctor to attend to the patient, even it’s an emergency case. The only remedy is to rely on the very limited residential health workers In comparison to the work load.
Sometimes, some medical tests need to be conducted on a patient before treatment such that even when with the limited residential doctors, the lab operators are also human and fear for their lives on those Mondays, including the x-ray operators, and others.
That’s just a summary.
The point is that the Monday’s sit at home, contributes to high rate of mortality because of the many lack gap created by incidents sketched above.
SO, THE MORE YOU PROMOTE SIT AT HOME, SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO MIGHT BE RELATED TO YOU OR NOT DIES. THAT PERSON IS MAJORLY OF IGBO ORIGIN.
WHY DO YOU KILL YOUR OWN WEAK ONES BECAUSE YOU WANT TO PROVE A POINT THAT EVEN YOUR OWN AGREES WITH?
However, I donated one pint of blood to the girl whose blood was 19%. I prayed for her and revealed my identity to the mother and what she said touched and enlivened my soul. She said:
“I am finished, so you are a priest. You have really SACRIFICED your life indeed.”
That word “sacrifice” kept ringing in my mind as a reminder of what I am: A living sacrifice. I yet can’t comprehend it fully.
©Fr. Henry Charles N. Umelechi