Man Absconds, Dumps Wife in Hospital over N.5m for Cancer Surgery

Man Absconds, Dumps Wife in Hospital over N.5m for Cancer Surgery      

A middle-aged man simply identified as Mr. Onu who sells rat poison to eke out a living has reportedly absconded, leaving behind his wife in a hospital in Onitsha, Anambra State, over N520, 000 balance owed the hospital for performing cancer surgery on his wife, Mrs. Uzoamaka Onu.

Mr Onu, it was gathered, had not visited his wife at New Mayor Hospital and Fertility Centre, located along Afor-Nkpor Junction, near Onitsha for four months now since the hospital requested the balance of payment for a successful surgery.

Mrs. Onu, 39, a food vendor who hails from Okpoto community, Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State told a journalist during a visit that she has been in the hospital for four months with no one to carter for her.

The mother of seven said: “My husband stopped visiting the hospital after I successfully underwent a surgery which affected my right breast.”

Uzomaka said she does not blame her husband for absconding because he has suffered a lot since 2013 when signs of cancer started manifesting in her right breast.

She added: “My husband sells rat poison, and cannot afford the money for the balance, and I think that that is why he might have run away. I am appealing to good spirited Nigerians to come to my aid and help me to get back home.

“My problem started in 2013 when I started experiencing excruciating pain in my body, specifically in my lungs, but having no knowledge of what challenges awaited me. I started visiting patent medicine stores for solution, but unfortunately, that compounded my problems.

“However, it was on the advice of some friends and family members that I decided to visit General Hospital in Abakiliki where I was diagnosed of breast cancer.”

The cancer patient spoke further that she has been at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) at some points over the ailment before returning to New Mayor Hospital and Fertility Centre where she had a successful surgery, leading to outright removal of her right breast.

It was gathered that out of the total sum of N750, 000 requested by the hospital for the surgery, she and her husband managed to pay N230, 000. But after the surgery was completed, her husband stopped coming to the hospital, and all attempts to reach him have failed.

The Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. B.P. Ossai, confirmed the story, describing Mrs. Onu’s case as pathetic.

He said the hospital discovered that her right breast was rotting and was oozing offensive odour due to the devastation the ailment had caused, so it decided to perform a surgery on her to remove the affected breast.

Ossai said Onu underwent a very successful surgery and had long been discharged pending when her family off set the balance of her medical bill, but for four months now, her husband has not visited, and that they suspect he has absconded.

He insisted that when she is fully discharged, she still needs to undergo a special physiotherapy screening by an oncologist at the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital (UCH), Prof. Campbell, a Sierra Leonean.

Mrs. Onu begged affluent individuals to come to her aid, as she would love to return home to meet her children again.