When Deji came to my clinic yesterday, I was experiencing some discomfort myself, so I was distracted and completely at sea for the first part of his complaint. My attention was suddenly summoned when, I heard, "Doctor, this pain is too much, what are we going to do about it?" I was confused.  From the distance I could see there had been considerable improvement since we commenced treatment several days earlier.I took a closer look and I was convinced that the eye was fine except there was something else happening.

Deji had been physically assaulted by an area boy during a recent demonstration against some government policies in Lagos. He had taken several blows on his face and had a bulletlodged in his buttock. He came to me three daysafter the event with a massively swollen face and apainful and red left eye. As I had tried to part the lids so I could examine his eye with a torch, he had screamed in reaction to the bright light, "This pain is too much," he had said.

After my examination, I had told him I was going to give him an injection in the eye. “An injection in my eye?Impossible! Isn’t that too drastic? Doctor, you won't dare inflict another pain on me! My entire body is on fire; I have severe aches and pains; I can’t see; I can’t even sit down comfortably because of the bullet in my buttock! Now you want to puncture my eye with a needle and you expect me to accept. There must be other ways of treating this condition" he had protested vigorously.

“Yes, there is an alternative but the better and more certain way to quick recovery with little or no complications is with the injection." I had explained to him that the pains of the injection would pale into insignificance if he were to develop serious complications such as an acute elevation of his intraocular pressure or the eye should shrink. “A woman carries a pregnancy for nine months, joyfully bearing the aches and pains. When the pangs of labour set in, she would swear that she wasn’t ever going to get herself pregnant again! But no sooner the baby is delivered, she would be all smiles, pains forgotten and ready for another pregnancy,” I had preached to him. By dint of persuasion he finally accepted to have the injection. It was successfully delivered after a little drama.

“Deji, your eye is doing great and the pain should have gone by now,” I exclaimed. “Doctor,you got me wrong! I am not complaining about my eye! As a matter of fact since the injection, I have had no pain and I am seeing very well. I am actually talking about the pain of this crazy fuel subsidy removal. The government wants to kill us all. I had to walk all the way from my house, a distance of about half a mile, to your clinic because I couldn’t afford to pay for a taxi. The high cost of fuel has caused transport fares to double.Now I have to cut down on my movements. Why, if they must remove the subsidy, can’t it be done gradually?” he asked ruefully. Secretly, I was happy for him. He is much too overweight and needs to shed some weight. For him, removal of fuel subsidy is a blessing.

“I am not in government and I have my own questions to ask them too! But unfortunately they have not opened any line of communications so my questions can’t get to them and sadly I can’t get replies!  But let me ask you some questions. “Do you recall how painful your eye was a few days ago when you came here? Didn’t you refuse the injection at first? But now that you are better, you aren’t even worried about the eye anymore but concerned about fuel subsidy. Life is like that! A new born baby comes out of the womb crying on account of the pain he suffered during the contractions of his mother’s womb and being pushed and moulded by her birth canal. That cry is essential for life; it makes his lungs to expand and be filled with air. The removal of the subsidy isnecessary but the government must find ways to keep the poor man alive until the glorious morn when he can enjoy the benefits of the removal and like you appreciate the beauty of the pain he had experienced.”

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment