BY VICTORIA OJEME

For majority of Nigerians,  the yuletide season is a time to once again plan holiday trips as well as set out time for family visits and fiestas, all in the spirit of the Christmas season.

But for some particularly the sick and those bed ridden by one form of ailments, if wishes were horses, they just want to leave their hospital beds and celebrate Christmas in the company of their loved ones too.

At the National Hospital, several patients _ by no choice of theirs _ have found themselves in the situation of only wishing to be in a happier clime in the yuletide season.

One of such people who is likely to celebrate Christmas on her sick bed is one 28_year old Mrs. Jumai Sunday, an indigene of Bauchi State, whose jobless husband, formerly a staff of a bank, is left to cope alone with the burden of his wife’s ailment.

Jumai was rushed to the hospital, five months ago, with severe burns to the upper part of her body, after a kerosene stove exploded in her face as she tried to cook diner for her family.

Five months after admission and unpaid bills running into several thousands of Naira, Mrs. Sunday practically lay in her stench from unhealed burns sustained during the accident.

At the time Sunday Vanguard visited, Mrs. Sunday laid helpless, with no help in sight in her quest for money to pay for a major skin graft surgery, as well as clues on how to settle the outstanding debt to the hospital.

Mr Okafor ...one of those that need help

Perhaps her family’s ability to cope with the financial burden imposed by her unfortunate situation would have been lighter, if the husband had not been sacked. He was sacked for alleged negligence. He spent more time with her sick wife in the hospital.

Findings at the national hospital by Sunday Vanguard indicate that for a successful skin graft operation at the Gwagwalada hospital, Mrs. Sunday is urgently in need of N1.4million; this, apart from her indebtedness to the hospital to the tune of N1.8 million.

Another patient currently lying prostrate at the national hospital is one 32_year old Mr. Chidi Okafor from Imo state.

Mr Okafor, a taxi driver, was involved in a freak motor accident. He was brought to the hospital with severe damage to his spinal cord, rendering him immobile, and very likely for the rest of his life, if urgent help does not come his way soon.

Okafor, who still in the hospital’s intensive care unit, is indebted to the hospital to the tune of a whopping N4.7 million.

For Okafor, it is now a race against time to prevent further deterioration of his already worsening situation. His situation is even further compounded by the fact that a successful treatment for him requires that he be flown abroad, for which N3.4 million is urgently needed.

Hospital sources told Sunday Vanguard that, the Okafor’s are hoping on kind hearted Nigerians to come to the aid of this father of three children, now lying immobile on his back in the last six months.

Another is 25_year old Mr Buhari Aweje, an indigene of Nasarawa State. His work as a security guard in a filling station suddenly came to an end, after being attacked by armed robbers, with gun shot wounds to the head, leaving him with brain injury that has rendered him unconscious – he is in a vegetative state.

Aweje, currently in intensive care unit, is being fed through the tube on a four_hourly basis. He has no hope of improvement without financial assistance. He also owes the hospital a bill of N2.2million and will need another N1.3m for surgery.

Young Benjamin Simon from Kaduna State is a 16_year old mechanic knocked down by a hit and run driver.

Like Aweje, young Benjamin landed at the hospital with a severe head injury, and now feeds with the aid of a tube.

Benjamin owes a bill of N1.1m and needs another N1.4m for surgery. For the sake of these patients, the management of the hospital has opened a bank account where kind hearted Nigerians can assist these patients, particularly during this season of sharing.