Ogoja gas explosion: Ekwueme hospital laments N20m debt


The Chief Medical Director of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, Dr Emeka Onwe Ogah Tuesday lamented the debt of N20 million bills by five victims of the 2017 Ogoja, Cross River gas explosion

He said neither the victims nor their relatives paid any amount out of the N20 million bill.

The gas explosion involved Vice President, Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), South South zone, Comrade Eddie Bekon and his six family members.

Bekon and his wife died in the hospital as a result of the serious burns they sustained when their neighbour’s cooking gas exploded in their residence.

Ogah, who spoke to reporters in the hospital, said five victims of the

explosion survived the burns.

He: “In 2017, victims of  gas explosion from Ogoja were brought here for treatment and none of them came with one naira but we managed to treat them. At the end, they had a total bill of close to N20 million and up till today, that bill has not been paid.

“We are lucky that up to five of them survived and you know what it means for

burn patient to survive, especially gas burns – five of them. So, we are employed to save lives not to kill.”

He lamented that some patients after treating them, ran away without

paying their hospital bills.

“The best we do for the patients is; rather than sending them home because they don’t have money, we must give them treatment to save their

lives first. It is when they are alive that we talk of who will come

and pay but if you push them out to go and die  because they don’t

have money for treatment, I think it is the greatest undoing.  It is

heartless and that is what we try to discourage.

“We have not lost somebody because such a person does not have money.

Some of them after treating them run away, which is not good. But we

don’t stop, we give them treatment,” he said.


NUJ restores Bauchi Institute of Journalism 

By Najib Sani

Bauchi 

Bauchi state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has restored a study centre of the International Institute of Journalism in the state for journalists willing to undergo diploma and post graduate diploma in Mass Communication. 

Secretary of the council, Yakubu Muhammad Lame, disclosed this Wednesday while presenting report of activities carried out by the union during its quarterly congress meeting held at its state secretariat. 

Lame said, already, new coordinator for the institute, Mr Sanusi Muhammed, resource persons have been appointed by the executive council, adding that sale of forms for national diploma and post graduate diploma has commenced.

According to him, other activities undertaken by the union during the period under review were training of members on election coverage, 2019 elections monitoring and celebration of press week.

While presenting a financial report, the state financial secretary of the union, Najib Sani explained that the council generated N7, 605, 215. 03 income and expended N7, 404, 700 million for various projects.

Earlier, the state chairman, Ibrahim Malam Goje, who presided over the meeting, expressed appreciation to members for their support to his leadership, assuring that the doors of the council would remain open for constructive advice. 

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