Abubakar Buba, from Bununu Village in Tafawa Balewa Local Government area of Bauchi State, is currently battling for his life after a man claiming to be a doctor removed his two kidneys. The young man currently requires at least N7 million for an urgent kidney transplant. It all started when the 23-year-old Abubakar fell ill and was taken to a private clinic, Aminchi Clinic, located at Yakubu Wanka Street in Bauchi Metropolis by his parents who are nomads from the countryside. Aminchi in Hausa means trust, and Abubakar, as well as all people who patronise the clinic, put their trust in the staff, particularly the health personnel to solve their illnesses.

Pronto, a man who claimed to be Dr. Sani, the owner of Aminchi Clinic, carried out a surgery on Abubakar, removing his two kidneys, it was learnt. Abubakar and his parents who are of Fulani extraction, said they protested against the planned operation when the ‘doctor’ muted the idea to no avail. But the adamant ‘doctor’ convinced them on the need for the surgery and it was subsequently done.

He neither disclosed to the parents nor Abubakar the nature of the surgery. The patient’s condition nose-dived after the operation. Abubakar, whose hands, legs and face started swelling and could not urinate again, was curiously referred to Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano by the management of Aminchi clinic after the dubious operation, even though a teaching hospital was in Bauchi.

While in Kano, poor Abubakar was placed on a costly dialysis, even though the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi has facilities for that at even more affordable rates. With Abubakar’s health condition worsening, his father who had run short of money was advised to transfer his son to ATBUTH, Bauchi from Kano.

Narrating his ordeal in an interview with Daily Sun on his sick bed, Abubakar, who coughed and spat constantly, said:  “I was having headache and stomach pains. When we came here (Aminchi clinic) from the village, I was admitted. After six days, I felt stomach pains. I complained to the doctor that I was having stomach pains. He touched my stomach and told me that I had appendicitis.

“He called me to the theatre room. I was made to lie down on a bed in one of the rooms in the clinic. He touched my stomach by the right side and asked whether that was the place paining me. I said no, it is the middle of my stomach. He started talking of an operation but I said, truly I want an x-ray.

I don’t want operation,’ but he insisted and carried out the operation.” For Abubakar’s father, Mallam Buba, his son’s predicament has become a big challenge in the family. Efforts by Mallam Buba to save his son’s life have drained his finances. The man said his prayer is that his current financial predicament would not cost him his son’s life.

The old man, who looked fatigued by the worsening condition of his son’s health, told our correspondent that he could no longer afford his son’s treatment. Buba said: “I had only two cows in my house before this problem started. I have sold them and they collected the money from me after the operation. “They asked me for N10, 000 which they said was for drugs. After some time, maybe they understood that my son would not survive, and maybe because I started shouting, they now asked us to go to Kano.

They refused to send us to Bauchi. “All my money was spent in Kano on his treatment. From Kano, when I could not shoulder the expenses for the treatment, the hospital wrote to Bauchi Teaching Hospital to start the treatment. “When we came to Bauchi, the CMD asked me for money and I told him I have no money and I don’t have anybody to go to. If it is the wish of Allah, Abubakar will make it. I don’t have money to do any case with them.

The CMD ordered that they should start giving my son free treatment.” Dr. Habib Maha of the ATBUTH said when the patient was brought to the hospital, scanning and other investigations confirmed that Abubakar actually had no kidney. Dr Maha said: “He is currently admitted in our dialysis centre here. He undergoes up to three sessions per week, which on the average cost about N15, 000. The patient is in serious financial difficulty, as we cannot afford to maintain him on dialysis for life.

But he might have a kidney transplant, which is very expensive. That is the situation the patient is currently in.” Mohammed Abdullahi Hari, who is the Secretary General, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Bauchi State chapter, believes the removal of Abubakar’s kidneys was quite suspicious. Speaking with Daily Sun, he explained: “What happened to Abubakar was unfortunate and sometimes you lack words to speak about our people, the Fulanis.

“We know the hospital as a place where humanity is taken care of, but this time around, they are turning the hospital into something else.” Mohammed believed that such clinics are operating like a syndicate. He said their agents met Abubakar’s parents and convinced them that it was the only place they could get effective and cheap medical attention. He continued: “Abubakar was coughing and vomiting, which we suspect was either malaria or typhoid. Being what we are, the parents agreed and they came to Dr. Sani’s clinic.

“The whole thing is very pathetic. The parents told me that they were just brought in and that they did not know the place. The only name they heard was Dr. Sani. And when they came, somebody who was not Dr. Sani presented himself as Dr. Sani.” Mohammed said Abubakar was administered initially with first aid treatment, and later admitted into the hospital. He added:

“They just said they would operate on him. But after being taken to the theatre room, Abubakar refused. He said, ‘why would you want to operate on me just like that? No test, no x-ray. So they came out with him. After coming out with him, they took him back for the second time. That was when they injected him with anaesthesia. Before the parents knew, they had already removed two of his kidneys.” When our reporter visited Abubakar at ATBUTH, his condition was pathetic. He was breathing hard and said he could not urinate.

A sad Mohammed wondered what the Fulanis had done that they were being singled out for attacks. He lamented: “After all the things that the JTF are doing to our people, now, they will invite our people to hospitals and start removing their body parts for ritual purposes for whatever we don’t know. We suspect this thing was a ritualist attempt because we don’t understand how you would just walk into a hospital, there is no payment of money and they just take you to the theatre and start operating on you.”

He called for a thorough investigation of the issue and also appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to come to Abubakar’s aid to save his life. Mohammed said: “We met the Chief Medical Director of the Teaching hospital, Dr Mohammed Alkali, and the advice he gave us was that we should find money so that Abubakar would be taken to India for a kidney transplant. That is the only solution as far as they are concerned, because Abubakar is on dialysis.

After every five days, he had to be taken for dialysis to refine his blood before he can continue living. But it will not be sustained. The only solution for this boy to live is to get about N7million. They don’t have that kind of money. Even yesterday when the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association met him, we had to give the father some money to feed.

That is why I am thanking the Chief Medical Director and the hospital management for taking the burden of giving him dialysis free of charge because they understand his condition.” Mohammed said they are happy that the police have arrested the so-called medical doctor who removed Abubakar’s two kidneys. “We don’t know Dr. Sani, and the phone number they gave us has remained unavailable.

But we thank God that the man who answered Dr. Sani’s name has been arrested. “When they brought Abubakar to the hospital, those who brought him said they did not know anybody but they came to see Dr. Sani. Somebody who was not Dr. Sani came and accepted them. So, Abubakar was admitted before they used Dr. Sanni’s name and hospital to carry out the ill operation,” Mohammed said.

The fake doctor Sani should be in malaysia by now... What a pity, the doctor no even remove one, leave one... The possibility that the guy will die is very high, they should jst make more arrests/ investigations, in finding the fake doctor, it might take yrs, but when they catch him, no need to go court, they should jst collect his two kiddnies, sell it and give the money to the Abubakar family..

Chanchit: The fake doctor Sani should be in malaysia by now... What a pity, the doctor no even remove one, leave one... The possibility that the guy will die is very high, they should jst make more arrests/ investigations, in finding the fake doctor, it might takes yrs, but when they catch him, no need to go court, they should jst collect his two kiddnies, sell it and give the money to the Abubakar family..

Solution delivered: an eye for an eye right? A kidney for a kidney.