Mrs. Ifeanyi Chima was one of Lagos delegates that attended a rally organised for women by the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, in Abuja on August 15, 2013.
The vehicle, which Chima and five other women were travelling in, had an accident along Abuja/Gwagwalada road when they were going back to Lagos the following day.
Their coordinator, Princess Abigael Adisa, died in the accident.
Chima and four others were
lucky to survive the accident, but sustained various degrees of injuries. Until her death, Adisa was the Coordinator of the Women for Change and Development Initiative in Ifako/Ijaye Local Government Area of Lagos.
Chima, in an interview with PUNCH at the Intensive Care Unit of Primus Super Specialty Hospital (popularly known as Indian Hospital) in the Karu area of Abuja, on Tuesday, painted a sad picture of how she almost lost her limbs to the accident.
She said, “Five of us were brought to this hospital. I had a broken left arm and dislocation on my left leg. Mrs. Titilayo Olorunda also had a broken leg. She has been taken to another ward because she was formerly here (in the intensive care unit). But after a surgery she was taken to her ward. When I had the injury, I had some open wounds in my hands.”
“At the specialist hospital in Gwagwalada, instead of treating the skin, they covered it up. It was when they brought us here (Indian Hospital) when I was complaining bitterly that the doctor said they should open it. That was when they started treating the place I had bruises. I had my surgical operation some days ago.
“The doctors and nurses here are wonderful. This is what I want our doctors and nurses in Nigerian hospitals to learn. They should be caring. Human life needs to be taken care of. When you see somebody in pains, take care of that person because that person needs you at that point in time.”