Taraba State Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai should be resting, a source at the Seaview Hospital and Rehabilitation Home in Staten Island, New York, USA has said.
The source, who spoke with The Nation in confidence, said: “That man needs rest and I mean, good rest.”
He added: “One of the strongest recommendations handed to his family and officers is that he should be allowed to have good rest due to what happened to him plus the shock and trauma he had been through over the last ten months.
“He suffered from what, in medical terms is called, Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI), which is a very difficult and rotational condition that is associated to brain injuries. During the period of his rehabilitation, he often relapsed into and out of bouts of trauma due to the injury on his brain from the fatal plane crash in October last year. Many people who suffer DAI need absolute rest of mind and body for a long period of time for them to fully recover, while in the extreme, a few others do not survive it.”
When The Nation reporter informed the medical official that the man was about to resume duties in Taraba State, the official blurted: “I strongly advise against that for now. If allowed the necessary period of rest without interruption, I bet you, he could snap out of his condition sooner than expected. But if they play politics with his health, I can only tell you with certainty, that is very dangerous to his overall life. If he is too tossed here and there, the man could enter a sudden state of seizure and go into morbidity which is often what happens to patients with traumatic brain injuries.
“The man needs rest. That man should not be made to involve in any stressful activities until he has been certified fit medically. Well, I don’t know how you operate in your country, but back here, that man would be given his rest and care. He is not a hopeless case, no, he is not. But if what you’re saying is true, then, I am disappointed in all those who were at the hospital with him, who all saw his medical referral papers from the Hannover Medical School Hospital, Hanover, Germany, all lined out in thick yellow ink, that: ‘patient must be allowed to rest’. I am telling you his fast recovery is dependent on his being left alone to recuperate and rest. Any other thing is injurious to his life.”
Noting that getting access to his medical records would be a tall order in the USA, the medical personnel said utmost caution must be applied in his situation. “That man is a very fragile case, but what I am sternly advising is that the instructions handed from his medical doctors should be duly obeyed and followed to save his life. Great caution must be applied if they want him to snap out of the trauma. I’m still dazed because these are some of the warnings duly handed to those who came for him at the hospital before he was discharged to them the previous weekend.”
Another medical official, who also spoke to the reporter, noted that on one of the days while Suntai was being taking care of, he tried to talk but could not immediately form the words.
“In USA, that singular incident gives us confidence that if his case is well handled as his doctors had advised, he would fully recover. But any other thing could result in a grave consequence. Going by your submission that he is being made to work, my advice is, “I will say not now. Let him have the prescribed rest. He has only one life to live. All required is patience in giving him the due care and medication. Only medical doctors can certify him fit and up till he returns for that, no, he can’t work just yet.
“At the time he tried to talk, I can only guess if he wanted to talk about the plane crash, but that is basically my own assumption. But I know that many times, he looked lost and hurt. But he was mostly quiet during his period of rehabilitation.
“And all the way from the Hannover Medical School (MHH), the university medical centre in Germany, one of the strongest points on his medical file is that he must be allowed comprehensive rest. Too bad, this is the vital part your country, Nigeria, seems to be toying with. And quite often too, he was like a man under a spell because after that time, he was never able to make perceptible comments till he left the hospital. However, like I told you, his case is not hopeless. The man will get over his situation if only all the medical instructions are adhere to.”
