Uncovering Kano’s blood-sellers

Shongolo’s sedentary lifestyle can be easily explained by his lifelong deformity; his right leg just below the knee is amputated, and so he can walk only by stocking the stump into an artificial wooden leg, which he apparently does not care to use, as it can spend a whole day resting against the wall.   […]

Shongolo’s sedentary lifestyle can be easily explained by his lifelong deformity; his right leg just below the knee is amputated, and so he can walk only by stocking the stump into an artificial wooden leg, which he apparently does not care to use, as it can spend a whole day resting against the wall.

 

On the surface, the disabled is merely a ragged old man who lives by selling cigarettes and kola nuts, but underneath that, he is a linkman or a sort of broker for a business that saves and destroys lives at the same time. He is a merchant of the illegal trade in blood.

Selling or buying blood is prohibited throughout government hospitals in Kano, but with the aid of people like Shongolo, blood prospectors and commercial donors alike, can either obtain or give out blood without as much as arousing a pint of suspicion or risking arrest.

In the years back, Weekly Trust gathered, dealing in human blood was not criminalized in the state, which therefore put the business in the line of other acceptable trades, like selling package waters, with blood ‘vendors’ camping around hospitals in search of buyers.

But even then, it was said, the activity was more prevalent at Murtala Mohammed Specialists Hospital (MMSH), which is the biggest medical care institution owned by the state government. The commercial donors would hang under a pedestrian bridge (now dismantled), linking the main hospital and its A&E unit, sighted across the road, a source disclosed.

It was further gathered that whenever a blood transfusion was recommended for a patient in the MMSH or sister hospitals elsewhere, the next alternative for relatives who failed to get blood from family members or friends was to run to the under-bridge “blood bank” and check. All it takes was to get a donor, do the cross-matching, screening and then the blood was added to the patient who has lost blood or was suffering from blood disorder.

But it was learnt that as the practice continued, its effect began to be felt widely. Weekly Trust was told that whereas for instance, a healthy individual is expected to give blood donation after six months from the first one, the commercial donors, in total disregard to the health implications could give out twice a month. This is in addition to the fact that the blood volume of the constant donors gets weak, thus making them vulnerable to contracting diseases.

It was for that reason that some of the constant donors manifested symptoms like puffiness of the face and other health problems, a source close to MMSH disclosed. Similarly, a police source close to the hospital also revealed that at a certain point, the donors who had turned the under-bridge into a home started dying due to complications. Most of the donors are poverty-stricken members of the society that are struggling to eke out a living, he added.

At that time, the police stepped in to check the practice by arresting the remaining donors and dislodging them from the base. While that was going on, the state Hospitals Management Board passed a ban on the practice of selling and buying blood, a staff of the board told Weekly Trust on condition of anonymity. The ban did not however affect voluntary donors, who give out blood for humanitarian reasons.

It was the proscription of the trade that created underground syndicate of prospectors, buyers, sellers and linkmen, comprising the likes of Shongolo and some staff across various hospitals in the state as the major beneficiaries, Weekly Trust investigation has shown.

At a glance, it is difficult to understand that Shongolo has anything to do with the system or he is in fact its gateway. However, when Weekly Trust approached him and explained that they were referred by one of the staffers in the main section of the MMSH, he got down to talk, but with an air of suspicion all over him.

A destitute though, the one-legged blood merchant sound authoritative in every sense of the word and he does not want to be stared at in the eyes. Every now and then, in the course of the brief chat, he would raise his head, dilating his grey-haired nostril as though trying to sniff out the real motive of the inquiries directed at him.

When told a patient is critically in need of blood transfusion at Sir Muhammadu Sunusi Memorial Hospital, located several kilometers away at Yankaba along Hadejia Road, he asked for ‘papers,’ which later turned out to mean the blood transfusion request form. Told it would be available later and asked to state the prices for O+ and other pluses, Shongolo retorted, saying they cost N3, 300 per pint. Any demand for more emphasis on the prices always resulted in the old dealer shouting, “I have just said it.”

It is the range of O-, B-, and other negative blood types that are more expensive, because they are hard to get, said the old man. And for that, each pint of negative blood costs N6, 500. “No addition and no subtraction,” he added. He then assured of his readiness to get any type of donor that can go with him to any hospital in the state.

When he was approached with four signed blood request forms about five hours later, Shongolo quickly waddled into his artificial foot and asked to be accompanied to the A&E laboratory for the bloods. “All the donors have returned to their respective abode because you returned late. But I can guarantee that you can get it at the laboratory at the respective prices I gave you,” he said.

When it became clear that he meant business, Weekly Trust insisted that the blood must be fresh and the donation will be at the Sir Sanusi hospital. “If that is the case, then you should come back around 9am in the morning, when they (the donors) are around,” he said, handing back the ‘papers’.

It was only then that the handicapped merchant appeared to have relaxed his guards as he voluntarily shed light on certain aspects of the trade. “You know they come from different places to sell the blood. Some of them even come from neighbouring states and it is all due to poverty,” he explained.  “I’m sure by the time you come tomorrow they will be around.”

However, when he was contacted the following morning, Shongolo was jittery, taking time to explain that the donors have failed to come and that he does not know the names of anyone of them, a development which suggested he had been tipped about Weekly Trust’s purpose of visit.

Although Weekly Trust was not able to establish contact with any of the blood donors, investigation has shown that laboratory attendants connive with the likes of Shongolo to buy and sell bloods. Furthermore, it was found that some of the blood that are sold were received from voluntary donors who donate blood without demanding to know how or for whom it will be used and without asking for money as well.

Hospital officials disclosed that apart from individuals, religious groups also donate blood to the hospitals and the bloods are kept in the blood bank pending when an emergency situation arises. Such bloods are sold out to patients’ relatives by hospital staff, even when such patients are supposed to benefit from them freely, it was gathered.

Meanwhile, when our deal with Shogolo hit the rocks, we managed to establish another contact with another important individual in the blood market, through some hospital staff who was confident we are genuine buyers.

The second man is a laboratory staff at the MMSH A&E section and is referred to here as Mr. Man. On hearing that the hospital is faraway Sir Sanusi and the blood group is O-, Mr. Man put a call to a colleague (identified as Mr. Bee) working at the hospital’s lab, and after some descriptions, he provided the colleague’s phone number. “You will be surprised that we are sending you back to the hospital you came from. It is not that they didn’t have the blood there, but they are afraid you could be a security agent,” he revealed.

Mr. Man added a caveat, telling Weekly Trust on no account should the discussion of buying blood be made with Mr. Bee in the presence of strangers, otherwise both of them can be arrested. On hearing the request, Mr. Bee quickly made some calls and returned to tell the inquirer how difficult it is to find the said type. “I don’t engage in business of buying blood from outsiders, therefore what I’m trying to do to assist you is to contact the relatives of a patient receiving treatment here if they can sell the O- blood they have to you,” he said.

Like Shongolo and Mr. Man, the staff at Sir Mohammadu Sanusi Memorial Hospital took time to explain the cost. “I can only get you one pint because that type you are looking for is difficult to get and it is sold at N4, 500. However, you can follow me to MMSH to get the remaining one pint,” he said. Meanwhile, when contacted over the issue the Hospital Management Board through its Public Relations Officer, Malam Sani, declined comment and referred Weekly Trust to zonal directors in charge of the hospitals where such illegalities are perpetrated.