Note: This story contains a graphic photo some may consider offensive.

BY ISHOLA BALOGUN
Sadiq Ahmed, five years old, is groaning in pains. He seldoms sleeps and when he does, it will be only for few minutes. He hardly talks and when he does, saliva surges out in large volumes.

His mother, Rashidat Ahmed, a petty trader in Agege area of Lagos will have to feed him and on each occasion, the process of feeding takes nothing less than an hour.  The scar around the lower part of his face scares his peers and they often keep him at a distance just as his quest for education has been temporirily aborted.

*Sadiq with a growing keloid scars

Tears rolled down the eyes of Rashidat, (his mother) as she narrated the story to Saturday Vanguard. She is seeking financial assistance from Nigerians to cure her only son.

“On June 13, 2008, he fell on hot water in our residence and was admitted for four weeks at the General Hospital, Sango Otta.  He was later discharged with no traces of what he is now carrying as scars,” Rashidat began.

The situation later resulted in the formation of keloids  which is not only threatening the dreams of the little boy but causing undue pain and physical deformity to the promising boy.

“When we discovered a growing scar, we went to Ikeja General Hospital in April 2009 and a surgery was carried out on him.  At that point, they told us that he would need to undergo two surgeries, but after the first one, they refused to do the second one.  They continued to shift the date every now and then while the scar grew on him causing him more pain ,” she stated.

According to her, “because of the high cost of drugs and material we procured during the first one, we sought  help from the State Ministry of Health and we were granted a free medical attention under the free health scheme of the state, but it appeared that did not go down well with the Ikeja  hospital authority.  The Hospital has tactically refused to carry out the second surgery.”

Rashidat who separated from her husband few years ago after the incidence stressed that the problem aggravated since she could not afford the medical bill in a private hospital. She added that a private hospital in Lagos that specialises in such cases demands about N3million to cure little Sadiq from Keloids burns.