Until he was six months old, Kehinde
Yusuf was like any other toddler. But in 2010, a high fever hit him and
is threatening to change the course of his life.
Right now, his parents are hard pressed to pay the N652,000 needed for an urgent surgery.
According to his father, Mr. Isiaka
Yusuf, four-year-old Kehinde was rushed to the Ado-Awaye General
Hospital, Iseyin, in Oyo State, after a high fever. He said the Chief
Medical Director, Dr. Olabode, who attended to the boy, could not find a
vein to pass the drip.
“He then decided to shave off Kehinde’s
head and passed the drip through his head. The fever went down truly,
but we noticed his head started growing bigger after two months. We
rushed him back, but the doctor said they were on strike and that we
could give him multivitamins,’’ he said.
As directed by the physician, Yusuf and his wife fed the little boy with multivitamins, but the head kept growing bigger.
The confused father told this reporter
that he went back to consult with Olabode but was given a variety of
excuses at different times and was not allowed to see him.
Rather than try other teaching hospitals,
the Yusufs erroneously visited some private clinics and trado-medical
hospitals, while their son’s head kept growing bigger.
“It was at the 10th hospital we visited,
the Awojobi Trado-Medical Hospital, that we were referred to the
University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State. That was in 2011. We
were given a bill of N175,000 for the surgery.
“We paid the money and the surgery was
successful. We noticed that the head stopped growing since then. We are
sure of this because we measure the head from time to time,” he
explained.
In a letter made available to our
correspondent and signed by one Mr. G.F. Logun on behalf of the Chief
Medical Director, the UCH diagnosed Kehinde as having post meningitis
hydrocephalus. And it was observed that he had “yet to achieve neck
control, sit or crawl.”
That is the next battle for Kehinde and
his parents. The parents said the little boy has a twin brother, Taiwo,
who is already a Nursery 2 pupil.
According to Yusuf, the UCH has asked him to pay N652,000 for a second surgery in order for Kehinde to crawl and walk again.
“The money is beyond me. My son cannot
walk or crawl. We prop him every time. He cannot attend school or do
other things his brother can do. I am appealing to Nigerians to help us
so that Kehinde can walk.”
Yusuf has opened a charity account for his son: Abdur-raheem Kehinde Yusuf, GTBank, 0151945965.
From The Punch Newspapers.
