Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Lessons from Fabrice Muamba's escape

Adetokunbo Oguntuga


SIR: It is about two weeks now since Fabrice Muamba survived a major cardiac arrest while playing in an English premiership match against Tottenham Hotspur. It is my opinion that there are underlying lessons to learn from this event. One of such lesson is that Nigeria and its people must cultivate a culture of valuing lives more. Life is too cheap in Nigeria. While other countries are willing to deploy anything no matter its cost just to save a life, the opposite is the case in Nigeria. A visit to health institutions, especially government owned health institutions, is enough evidence how cheap life is in the country. Manned by underpaid and de-motivated personnel, these health institutions have become everything a medical institution should not be. Patients are treated with disdain in most of these institutions.


The attitude of a fan in the stadium on the day Fabrice slumped is striking. Being a consultant cardiologist, he jumped off the stands and rushed to offer help to the dying Fabrice. Muamba was attended to on time. The moment he collapsed, within minutes, he was given two defibrillator shocks, not 'pure water' poured on his head. In the players' tunnel, he received one and a further 13 shocks in the ambulance, not menthol rubbed on his chest. Between the stadium and the hospital, Fabrice was under intensive care. He made it to the hospital just under 48 minutes. These are attributes of a people who value life.


Nigerians can also learn from the crisis management skills evident during the scare. Like the Boys Scout, the major maxim in crisis management is 'be prepared'. There is no doubt that organisers of the English premier league were adequately prepared for such an incident. There was an ambulance on standby at the stadium. Both teams had medical doctors on their benches with the right equipment. This lesson is not just for organisers of the Nigerian premier league but also for corporate Nigeria. Organisations in Nigeria must constantly ask themselves; in an emergency such as a staff collapsing in the office what should be done in the first 10 minutes? Every organisation should have a crisis management plan.


No doubt Fabrice is a lucky man because he happens to live in a country where things work. That the young footballer passed out for 78 minutes and yet came back to life can be attributed to God and to a world class medical care. The lesson here is that Nigerians must stop abdicating their responsibilities to God. They always expect God to come down from heaven to perform the most basic tasks for them. Yet, God gave man brain so that he can think and trouble Him less. The average Nigerian is quick to attribute every failure to God's plan and purpose and so fatalistic that he accepts everything thrust at him in the name of religion.


Sadly, the Nigerian has been devalued and his psyche battered such that every abnormality is seen as normal. And the normal has been made an Eldorado. It is hoped that import of this young man's miraculous escape from the claws of death is not lost on Nigerians. There is an urgent need for a comprehensive overhaul of every department of the entity called Nigeria. It is pertinent that the leadership of the country be seen to be working and taking her out of the doldrums. This is part of what transformation agenda should be about and not just a political sloganeering coined by a rudderless political elite.


*Adetokunbo Oguntuga,


Lagos.


http://odili.net/news/source/2012/apr/3/12.html

Thank you.

stop eating akpu if you are a premiership footballer.