‘The Good Samaritan’

These images, whether consciously or unconsciously, imbed themselves in our brains so that anything short of that is described as a ‘failed system.’
By now, many of you may have watched the viral video of the ‘Good Samaritan’ who drove a man with a scalp injury following an accident to the emergency unit of the Federal Medical Centre, Abuja.

Of course, the video was met with much uproar. ‘These useless doctors are at it again! They would have allowed this man to die just like that! Ah! That is their way! Wicked nurses! There were no gloves at the hospital – Can you imagine? Only God will save us from these government hospitals! Wicked people!’ Ati be be lo.

I have since learned to tune these insults out.

Let me tell you a story. A friend living in the UK called me for a consult. After a few questions back and forth, I told her that some tests needed to be run as I was not very comfortable diagnosing her over the phone.

“It may be hyperthyroidism. I want to be sure. Please book an appointment with your primary care doctor.”

“Don’t you think I have tried? This is the second time I have called, and they have given me a three-week appointment! What am I supposed to do before then?” She replied.

The poor woman was having palpitations, poor sleep, recurrent diarrhoea and was becoming increasingly irritable. The nurse practitioner she had spoken to over the phone asked her to take lots of fluid and rest. At the pharmacy, Melatonin and evening primrose oil was prescribed.

She was nearly in tears when she called me. I understood her frustration.

Over the years, many friends living abroad call for tele-consultations. I help when I can and refer them when I can’t. These same people who call for consultation are the ones who will be shouting ‘Nigerian doctors are incompetent.’ Me nko? What does that make me? They will call for consult from various specialties and sometimes ask that we send them medicines because they are too expensive to purchase abroad, especially if they are on insurance.

Another story: Nine years ago, during a fellowship in Illinois, I accidentally closed a car door on my right thumb. I screamed and cried all the way to the ER. There, a nurse examined me and asked me to wait patiently (after determining that I was not at risk of dying) for a doctor. I waited. An hour later, a young man came in, examined my reddish black thumb, drilled a small hole on the fingernail to let out the trapped blood and sent me home with painkillers. Two weeks later, I receive an email for $2,800.

All I could say was thank God for medical insurance and the foresight of the taxi driver that insisted on taking me to the hospital. An ambulance ride at that time was about $2,500 and would not have been covered by insurance.

I had never wanted to return home so badly. Who would charge you like that at a government hospital in Nigeria?
Now, back to ‘the Good Samaritan and the Jabi Hospital. Was the attendant/nurse who attended to him in the characteristic Nigerian nonchalant manner correct? Absolutely not! How about the manner of the person shooting the video – the ‘so- called Good Samaritan?’ Could he have handled the situation better? Absolutely.

There were many factors at play in that video, first of which is that the said video should not have been taken in the first place. Why have we become a country obsessed with filming every good and bad incident? And if it was taken for evidence, why not just show the CMD or whoever? Why share it to all and sundry?

Another layer to this incident is the typical Nigerian rudeness that was evident on both parts. She walking around announcing that it was not her job (typical government worker) and him screaming that the minister would hear of this. Who cares? Kai jama’a.

I have taken people to government hospitals loads of times without identifying myself. Half of the time, all it took was a greeting, polite pep-talk and a large dose of patience and my patient was attended to. I do that because I know how fortunate we are in this country.

A country where you can walk into the GOPD of a government hospital and see a doctor on the same day without booking an appointment? A country where you can have CS done to deliver a baby free of charge? A country where you can go to the A&E and be seen for free? Where you only pay a paltry amount for medicine and consultation? You people don’t know how lucky we are.

How dare you raise your voice in the emergency room of the US? (‘saner climes’). My dear, you will be marched out. Which minister? Who has time for you? Not only video, if you like shoot movie. They will bury you in so much lawsuit that you will never attempt such nonsense again. Also, before you start with the argument that there will be no need for shouting since every patient brought into the ER is attended to hurriedly like what you see in the movies, well, it is not.

Of course, they are better than that of Naija, with some countries or states more efficient than others, but many do not portray that Hollywood style emergency services.

As for the nurse/attendant or whoever she was who strolled about because she was reluctant to lift the patient unto the wheelchair and into the ER – she would have been suspended or at best receive a query to serve as a deterrent to others. We all do things that are not within our scope of work – it is called being a team player. If not for anything, she should have done it for optics, especially when she saw that she was being videotaped.

Hausa people say, “In bera da sata, daddawa ma da wari.” Loosely translated, it means that if you say the rat steals, it is because the locust beans smells; signifying cause and effect analogy.

Nigerians should learn to be polite and patient. Just because the country is hard does not mean we should take out our frustration on everyone. Maybe we need anger management to be taught in primary schools. What is this aggression and name dropping for? Not everything needs to be escalated. If you were truly ‘a Good Samaritan,’ when you took the patient to the hospital, you could have as well carried him in instead of shouting, ‘If you like let him die!’
What is wrong with us? Two wrongs don’t make a right.

First published on 14th June 2025