Lagos State-born, Abiola Rahamon, 37 is a Paralympics medalist, who has represented Lagos and Delta states in Table Tennis at national competitions,
and made the National Team once, to represent Nigeria at the All African Games in Algeria. But today, this champion is battling with blood sucking and life threatening multiple fibroids and needs to undergo a surgery as soon as possible.
“When I got here, I was asked to do some tests. They now said my blood level is low and they must admit me. They put me on admission and said I would have to be transfused with blood. I wanted to go home, but the doctor insisted that I couldn’t with my blood level so low. She wrote an emergency note on my card that I should go and collect blood from the lab, then she wrote some tests for me to do. That’s how I got admitted.
So now, she faces the challenge of raising money for the surgery. But then, there is a provision of the Lagos State Special People’s Law, 2011, which states that persons living with disabilities should have free healthcare. “Even in table tennis, they don’t take lower class disability like mine. I have passion for sports. I train every day if there’s a tournament, but if there’s no tournament, I train three times a week because of the distance of the National Stadium from where I stay.”
By 2010, her mother insisted she returned to Lagos because she was wary of her frequent travels, especially after she was involved in a road accident and was the only surviving passenger.And on lessons from her disability, she said, “My disability has taught me to be self-disciplined. If you have self-discipline, you can go far in life.”Uri who runs the Empathy Driven Women International Initiative has been at the forefront of the fight for Rahamon.
After begging to buy blood from elsewhere or directly from the bank to no avail, they eventually agreed that they paid N7,500 each for the remaining two pints of blood. “We have the receipts. But why didn’t they ask us to do this earlier? Why did they keep us for extra two weeks before asking us to pay N7500? Well, I paid the N15,000. This is apart from the initial N28,000 we paid at first.
According to him, “Lagos state special people’s law, Section 27, Sub-section 1&2, guarantees the free medical treatment of persons living with disabilities. The law was enacted in 2011. Let us assume that 5 years was like a gestation period, now we are in 2019 and we are still having a situation where even doctors claim that they have to confirm with their legal department in a situation of emergency. This is what a doctor at LASUTH CMD’s office told me.
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