Emma Ugolee. |
Excitement fueled my
mind as my sister & I headed for India in 2012 for a kidney
transplant. She was a perfect match for me and we were mighty glad about
that. Adding to our joy was the fact that we were going to spend $30,000 for
the entire surgery. About 10% what was needed for same in America.
Google searches on the
hospital's records all positive. SUV airport pick up, intimidating hospital
structures, 1st class treatment, all part of the packaged experience that would
have the average Nigerian patient almost thanking Buddha for healthcare alien
to his world.
The teeming Nigerian
crowd at the lobby was like a pilgrimage for the sick.
The multi million
dollar traffic from Nigeria is aided by hundreds of indian marketing officials
parading Nigerian hospitals in full collaboration with Nigerian doctors who get
percentages in exchange for references.
6weeks later we are
wheeled out of the surgery room. A test called the creatinine test used to tell
that the kidney was doing great was never passed. My fears were allayed by the
doctor who said it would take a while. So we came home. Weeks later, the while
never came. My doctor in Nigeria gets worried and orders a biopsy and a
scan.
The results to my ears
in his words: "Emmanuel there is no way in God's green earth that this is
your sisters kidney inside you. Not with size and functionality." So it
was that my sisters kidney was swapped during the surgery
Made sense when the
hospital among many others in India had to face a special committee
investigating organ black market deals
6months later, my legs
are all swollen as i lay on my back for my 1st restart session of dialysis.
And so the horror hit
the refresh button for me to re-live
My story is one out of
hundreds of Indian trips gone wrong. I am blessed to be telling my story. Many
of my friends cannot because they died.
I have no faith in
Govt. so this post it not even hoping for her to act. I am just hoping somehow,
that the fallacy that India is salvation for the sick is changed. It is a big
business with the traditional indian corruption at the core of it. Life often
the sacrifice paid. Treatment is secondary. Evidentiary examples abound. Please
be warned and do not just happily fall for the bait of the cheaper and more
effective Indian experience.
Please get deep inside
stories of the institution you decide to use. They look at us and see money
bags who are carried away by the infrastructure they have put down.
Ask questions.
Be warned.
Emma Ugolee.
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