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Yar’Adua may not return
yet — Doctors
By ENYERIBE EJIOGU
Sunday, November 29, 2009
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•President
Umaru Yar’Adua
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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After several months of playing ‘hide and seek’ with
Nigerians over the health of President Umaru Yar’Adua, the
presidency finally came face to face with reality and officially
revealed the name of the ‘demon’ that has plagued the
nation’s First Citizen.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Senior Special Assistant to the
President (Media and Publicity), Segun Adeniyi, had said Yar’Adua,
who was ferried to a Saudi Arabian hospital in an air ambulance,
was undergoing treatment for acute pericarditis caused by Churg-Strauss
Syndrome, a condition that had plagued the president for sometime
and led to his developing end stage renal disease and ultimately
kidney failure.
Pericarditis is an inflammation of the pericardium, the membrane
forming the outer covering of the heart. The inflammation may cause
a thickening and roughening of the membrane and an accumulation
of fluid in the sac surrounding the heart.
While wishing the president well, Dr Emmanuel Enabulele, a surgeon
and medical director of Joekem Clinic, told Sunday Sun that for
“somebody who had been chronically ill, and now developing
acute pericarditis, in health terms, it means that he has more days
of hospitalization.”
Continuing, he said: “Most acute pericarditis cases take a
minimum of six weeks to resolve; usually when pericarditis occurs
it becomes a little difficult to know what must have caused it.
But we know that he had a renal condition, and uremia is a known
cause of pericarditis, it just means that days of hospitalization
ahead of us are still many. Definitely, he would have more days
of hospitalization and government must find a way to keep working.
That is the way it should be taken.”
We’re not ready for political upheaval
Clearly determined not to be drawn into any speculations as to whether
the president could continue to function in office given his present
circumstance, he advised that what should be uppermost in the minds
of Nigerians is the need to give Yar’Adua the time necessary
for him to recover his health.
His words: “Sentiments apart, there are constitutional provisions.
But what it means for now is that he needs to have enough time to
recover from his condition. Depending on how the illness progresses,
then the issue of continuing in office, which is bound to generate
political heat, will have to be confronted. But for now he needs
to recover his health back, both the renal function, cardiac function
and the causative factor that might have led to the pericarditis
have to be dealt with. From there, after the assessment then the
issue of continuing in office can be debated. But knowing what this
country is, it is likely to generate a lot of sensitive political
maneuverings and I don’t think that we are ready for that
now. The nation is not ready for such now. At least there is a government
on ground, let us keep managing the way we have been. After all
the man has not been very active all these past months due to his
clinical condition that has been clouded with a kind of mist till
now that the chicken is coming home to roost.”
Though the president had once boasted during his first nationally
televised interactive session with senior editors, that he could
sustain an energetic game of squash. There are genuine concerns
that the president has been laid low by his deteriorating health
condition. For as long as Nigerians can remember, most of the responsibilities
of the president have been delegated to capable aides.
Against this background, medical director of Dayspring Hospital
and Secretary of Lagos State Cahpter of Nigeria Medical Association,
Dr. Sam Adebayo, and Enabulele both argued that the president could
still continue to function to some minimal level.
According to Adebayo, “being an acute situation, it can be
resolved easily. There is none of our teaching hospital that cannot
diagnose and treat this condition adequately. Even some people would
have it would just resolve without their knowing that they have
it. That shouldn’t disturb him as the President, except that
there are other medical issues, which are not known. When it comes
to his health issue, there is a lot hidden in secrecy. What the
people know is based on mere speculation. Nobody has actually come
out to say categorically what is ailing the president. To start
with he is not even being managed in Nigeria.
“Last time when he went to Germany, they said he had catarrh.
If as they have said that he has pericarditis, then there is no
big deal about it. It is a condition that can resolve under proper
medical management. If presidency wants to inform us, we the citizens,
about the health condition of our president they should update us
well. And if they don’t, they can keep the information with
them. We don’t know much about the president’s health
condition. The presidency should not be fuelling speculation about
Yar’Adua’s health. We want him to live out the full
potential of the life given to him by God.”
Dr Enabulele, on his part, however said: “Nigerians shouldn’t
start getting too worried about the president. There shouldn’t
be any unnecessary manoeuvre for now. Let’s wait for the outcome
of the treatment; let’s see whether the so-called pericarditis
is now progressing from acute to chronic. Acute pericarditis can
resolve in six weeks. Anything above six weeks, we start talking
about sub-acute; if it then moves from sub-acute to chronic, that
is a situation that would necessitate serious debate.”
When the president’s condition progresses to chronic, what
are the implications for the country? To this Enabulele responded:
“Of course, the person becomes more debilitated, more fatigued
and the general health condition is not such that you could engage
in very active services, which governing entails. Being the person
he is, and the type of enormous powers and resources he controls,
I am sure by that time, something definite must have been done.”
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