Obnoxious health seeking practices in Nigeria

For most Doctors, Nurses, and Physiotherapists who work in most teaching hospitals in Nigeria, their reality when it comes to most of the patient cases, they routinely have to deal with on presentation by the patient relative can make one who is not skille d at handling his or her emotions depressed.

How do you explain the fact that a child who was given birth to whole and hearty in the hospital without complications of any sort becomes a victim of terrible choices made by their parents when certain medical experienced on the path of these children’s growth?

Some days ago, a doctor challenges are was visibly distraught when he realized that a child whom would have been treated and given an excellent chance at life to live as a whole human being, would be losi ng one of his limbs as a result of the recklessness of the parents.

A child who has what we could call a bone development problem instead of being brought to the hospital for diagnosis was parceled down to a herbalist who in their routine fashion promised his victims whom in this case are the parents of this boy that he had all the solutions they needed.

This means a human being who should be prosecuted and locked up used bandage plaster on the leg of this child while he poured all sorts of herbal concoctions on the said leg.

The lack of blood supply to the leg tissues and this of the leg are all dead causes “ gangrene ” as a result of the Guess the only solution to this dilemma? The child would be amputated in the weeks to come if the child must live.

How would parent’s this child feel when he grows up tomorrow to know that it was his recklessness that made him a disabled man? We must be deliberate about our health seeking behaviours.

We must be intentional about making sure that we present ourselves to well estabilished hospitals for medical care and on time too instead of foolishly always going to prayer houses or native Doctors to proffer solutions they know nothing about.