He has had the strange feeling for some time; a feeling that the grimy walls of the hospital ward are caving in on him.
Although, Temitope Ajayi has only spent five weeks on admission at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, it already feels like five years. Sadly, Ajayi still has a long road to full recovery and at least three weeks to being discharged from the hospital.
It was three days to the Presidential and Parliamentary elections when our correspondent met Ajayi at the hospital's MBA 5 ward, a male ward at the facility for victims of fire, accidents and disasters.
Before being admitted at the hospital, Ajayi had collected his Permanent Voter Card. In spite of the pains in his right leg which secured a bed for him at the facility, Ajayi had enough presence of mind to take his PVC along with him to the hospital.
He had hoped that by some miracle, he would be given the opportunity to vote for the candidates of his choice. But a few days to the election, Ajayi's hopes began to fade.
"I want to vote and see that my vote counts. We should not be denied the right to vote because we're on hospital admission. It's wrong," a frustrated Ajayi told our correspondent.
"I still expect that the Independent National Electoral Commission will create polling booths in hospitals such as this for patients on admission to have the opportunity to also vote. If not, my PVC will be useless here in the hospital."
Saturday PUNCH learnt that Ajayi had championed moves to have INEC do something about the situation of patients with PVCs that are stranded in hospitals by speaking to the hospital management about it.
The management reportedly promised to work on it.
But the need for Ajayi's vote to count is not his only reason for wanting to vote. For seven years, since he was involved in a motorcycle accident, Ajayi has gone through a rough patch after suffering a fractured leg.
[/media-credit] National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos.
First, he was taken to a hospital in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, which did a bad job of connecting a broken bone in his leg. He said it was discovered after the surgery that the fractured bone was not properly connected, so he was taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where the operation was redone.
He thought everything was fine until about five weeks earlier when Ajayi felt pains in the leg.
At the orthopaedic hospital, Ajayi was told that his leg had been infected and so had to be operated on again. Due to his predicament, Ajayi has lost his job and his caterer wife has been the one caring for the home and their four children in his absence.
A file of documents containing his hospital bills and PVC lay by his pillow. Also among the documents was a letter from his landlord's solicitor, telling him to leave his flat by June 30, 2015.
He told our correspondent, "So, I've been going in and out of hospitals for seven years. You can imagine what my wife is going through. I'm in the hospital; I've lost my job and I have a wife and four children. I'm in the hospital when I should be running around to take care of my family.
"My landlord's lawyer even called me today to ask when we would be moving out of the house and I told him that I'm in the hospital. I don't know what they expect me to do when I'm lying in the hospital."
So for Ajayi, election is also an opportunity for the citizens to have a say in how they want to be governed.
"I'm a citizen and it's my right to vote for whoever I choose. It's failure on the part of the government if it cannot plan for hospital patients and ensure they vote. After all, government has been announcing to us about the need to go out and vote for some time now," he said, adding that he would sit by the television to monitor events on election days.
But Ajayi is not the only patient in the hospital agitating for his right to vote. Findings by Saturday PUNCHshowed that nine out of the 10 patients in Ward MBA 5 have their PVCs and are willing to vote. Meanwhile, the number of patients in the ward only reduced to 10 from 18 during the week, after some of them were discharged.
Six of the discharged patients reportedly had PVCs and had expressed their interest in returning home so they could participate in the elections. Our correspondent learnt that their requests were therefore granted since their conditions had greatly improved.
One of the few patients left in the ward was Bolaji Yisa, a photojournalist.
His right hand was wrapped in a plaster of Paris following a domestic accident he had on Friday, March 13, 2015 in which a broken glass severed 12 blood vessels in his arm.
Yisa hoped that his bandage would be removed by Friday, the eve of the presidential election, and that he would therefore be discharged and free to use his PVC.
Although, Yisa was not sure he would be able to use his right hand should the opportunity to vote arise, he expected that thumbprinting with the fingers on his left hand would suffice.
"I want my votes to count because it's my right. My right hand is still not okay but my left hand is fine. I've been told that I may be allowed to leave on Friday. If that happens, I will be very glad since I will be able to vote for my candidates," he said.
Interestingly, the mood in the hospital wards was similar to the one on the streets. Politics was the main subject of discourse among the patients whose supports were split between the Peoples Democratic Party's 'Transformation agenda' and the All Progressives Party's call for 'Change.'
Yisa, who was for 'Change', said he would be disappointed if he was not discharged from the hospital before the election. To force the move, Yisa has already taken the matter to God in prayer, hoping for some miracle before the election.
He said, "I seriously pray that I will be discharged from the hospital on Friday. I don't want to be here on Saturday (election day). By not giving us a polling booth here, government is not encouraging us to vote.
"I will really be disappointed if I'm still in the hospital by election day. But if that will be the case, then, I will have to stay glued to the TV in the hospital to know what's happening. That means I will have no use for my PVC during the presidential election."
However, Yisa fears that the poor power supply being experienced in the country may prevent him and his fellow patients on admission at the hospital from monitoring events on TV on election days.
While other patients in the hospital were busy dreaming about the elections and where they hoped to be on Saturday, March 28, Umoru Alli knows where he will be on that D-Day.
Alli has been bed ridden for 11 months; fire broke out in the house where he worked as a gatekeeper in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, leaving him with third degree burns. Since Alli still has a few surgeries to do which are expected to span across a couple of months, he was sure he would still be lying on his bed, which has gone flat from years of use, come election day.
Both of Alli's hands are still stiff and suspended pending a surgery that would correct the problem, therefore, he is forced to sleep on his back all day. Alli is only with his Temporary Voter Card and has been unable to collect his PVC, which is required for the voting exercise, even though he felt so sure that it was ready for collection.
"If not for the fire incident, I would have collected my PVC. For now, I only have my TVC," he said.
Alli's limbs were bandaged, so he makes use of a spoon when he needs to eat and relies on the use of straw to drink. Due to his condition, Alli has ruled out any chance of watching electoral events on TV since he cannot change position.
He told our correspondent, "It is sad but this is where I will be on election day. My hands will remain suspended till Monday when a surgery will be performed to correct them. My burns have been healing but I still have series of operations lined up to get fully fit.
"It's been a tough life but I can't complain because I'm alive. Even if I had my PVC and I'm allowed to leave the hospital today, I have other issues. What hand will I use to vote? It's unlikely that I will go and queue up to register and vote like this. I will need some time to rest and fully recover. The hospital bills are there and my family members are all in Borno State. It's only a Good Samaritan and some religious houses that have been taking care of me here at the hospital."
At the MBA 6 ward of the hospital, which is meant for females at the hospital, a patient with a PVC, also expressed disappointment with the organisation of the elections.
The patient, who did not want her name in print, advised INEC to provide polling booths at tertiary and secondary hospital facilities in future to afford patients the opportunity to vote.
She said, "I want INEC to consider having polling booths at such big hospitals in future. Of course, there will be patients who will not feel well enough to go through the stress of voting, but there will be many who will be able to vote."
PUNCH.
