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From Magnus Eze, Enugu
For 22-year-old Mrs. Blessing Usulor, it is a typical case of a second chance to live. She literally returned from the land of the dead.
Her situation is a bad dream from which she longs to wake up. Daily Sun gathered that the young mother of one had slumped in their quarters within the IMT Campus 4 axis of Enugu on a fateful day in June 2022. She passed out and was rushed to a private health facility, Hopecare Medical Centre, around Onu-Asata, Enugu, by some concerned neighbours.
Surprisingly, Usulor’s relations reportedly declined to go and visit her at the hospital when they were told of her condition. When her husband eventually visited once, he absconded and was never seen again.
Our reporter was told that the family, on hearing of her state, decided that it was better she died, especially as they would not be able to pay the medical bills.
However, fortune smiled on the embattled woman as the management of the hospital took it upon itself to handle her case even without payment from any quarters.
Somehow, the story filtered into the ears of Bianca Ojukwu, Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Spain and wife of the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
It happened that the case was brought to the attention of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, when he paid homage to the Ojukwus at the GRA Enugu residence of the Ikemba Nnewi, on Friday, December 30. Immediately, he offered to defray the about N1 million medical bill of Mrs. Usulor.
So, on Wednesday, January 4, Obi, represented by Mrs. Ojukwu, presented a cheque to Dr. Samuel Ngwu, medical director of the centre.
He extolled the hospital’s management for putting life before monetary considerations in terms of payment of deposit, saying that the exemplary conduct of the hospital by seeing to the survival and total recovery of the patient showed “the new Nigeria we all are yearning for.”
According to him, Usulor’s recovery and the commendable conduct of Hopecare Medical Centre was a shining example that, with love and care, Nigerians have the capacity to rebuild their great country once more.
Obi said: “I was indeed shocked when I learnt about the Usulor story through Ambassador Ojukwu, who the medical director narrated all to.
“We have to bear each other’s burden, be our brother’s keeper and create a Nigeria that works for everybody and we can be proud to call our own and home.”
Remarking, the medical director, Dr. Ngwu, said that the patient was admitted in June 2022 and was brought to the hospital in coma by neighbours living within her quarters.
He disclosed that she stayed in coma for 10 days and her medical case was with some complications.
According to the medical expert, these complications included renal failure, which required the hospital carrying out a dialysis, diabetes complication and, eventually, she also developed ulcer due to long stay in the bed, among other complications.
Ngwu recounted: “As God may have it, she recovered. At the beginning, there was no monetary deposit and my staff brought that to my attention.
“And my answer was that a 22-year-old person would never die in my care because of money.
“So, we continued to treat her; and after the treatment, paying the medical bill became a challenge after she was discharged on July 1, 2022.
“Since then (July 1, 2022), she could not meet up with her bill and she had been here while the husband that also came with her two-year-old son later abandoned both her and her son till date.
“While in the hospital all this time, she lived on handouts from other patients and relatives of other patients she met in the ward. Earlier, today, a relative of a patient gave her N3,000.”
He thanked Obi for the gesture, adding that “we are looking forward for a new Nigeria, where we will be led by leaders with vision like Mr. Peter Obi.”
Sobbing, Usulor, who hails from Ebonyi State, expressed gratitude to Obi for identifying with “a poor woman and nobody” in the society.
“I am overwhelmed with joy that I don’t know how to thank His Excellency for this kind gesture and remembering someone that has been abandoned.
“I appreciate Dr. Samuel Ngwu and the entire management of Hopecare Medical Centre that God has used to keep me alive till today. May God continue to bless and reward you all,” she said.
