Despite Dangote’s massive donation, bomb victim resort to selling property to pay hospital bill
Recall we brought you the story of Joy Musa who lost her brother, husband, and four children in a Jos terror attack.
Joy, who now “squats” with a family in Oregun, Lagos, was recently hospitalized after taking ill. Doctors said she had pneumonia.
Victims Support Fund (VSF) is aware of Joy’s plight. She needs N1.2 million for a third surgery on her left leg where she was shot during the attack. VSF director Prof Sunday Ocheche told NewsroomNG “we’re sorry there’s nothing we can about that”.
Joy was so broke her brother had to sell his laptop before she could be discharged from hospital after “catching” pneumonia from “sleeping on the floor a lot”.
“I never dreamed my life would become this terrible,” the woman, who’s got two children left, told our correspondent after leaving hospital.
“My brother sold his laptop but we still need to pay the hospital N3,800 before I can get some drugs I should be using at home,” she said lamenting she had no money.
Joy was discharged from hospital on Monday night.
President of Bomb Victims of Nigeria (BVAN), Kayode Olatunji, told our correspondent he’s worried about what Joy is passing through.
VSF, with at least N58 billion of monies donated by well-meaning Nigerians, says it cannot help Joy. Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote was one of the many Nigerians who donated to the fund to help people like Joy.
Ochoche said bomb victims can only go to VSF-funded hospitals to be treated.
His words:
“If they go to hospitals that we have asked them to go to and they are referred to other hospitals, I am sorry but we cannot take responsibility for that. It is the hospitals that will know how to sort themselves out.”
READ: Why do Nigeria, VSF treat bomb victims like trash?
But the fund was established not to merely provide treatment for victims but also to help them get their lives back on track.
Joy’s two children have been out of school since the 2010 attack that shattered their lives.
