March 17, 2008

Boy Falls from Three Story Hostel Building!!

...and lives to recount the tale!!

On the morning of the 15th March, 2008, word spread around campus quickly that at about one a.m that morning, a second year boy had fallen off the second floor of the Eni Njoku hostel building, in the middle of the night.

All sorts of rumours spread, faster than the chicken pox epidemic currently pervading the school. From the feasible to the down right incredible, rumours about the circumstances leading to his fall, went from hostel to hostel even before the local women who sell Okpa very early in the morning, arrived. The truth was not given a chance that morning and only those who paid him a visit and those who read this blog will know the truth.

The Boy (name withheld for obvious reasons) fell off the second floor when he edged too close to the weak and rusted railing, after waking from sleep. In the pitch darkness NEPA (now known as PHCN), left the students in, "the boy" did not see the edge of the corridor and somehow he slipped through the rusted railing and fell onto the concrete floor two storeys below. Fortunately someone saw him fall, rushed down to assist him and raised an alarm. Sleepy students rushed out of their rooms into the darkness to come to his aid. They managed to rouse someone who possessed a motorbike (aka Okada) , so they could convey him to the University Medical Centre.

My source reveals that the injured boy did not get immediate medical attention, as the nurses prevaricated, asking somewhat unnecessary questions. Money appeared and so did a Doctor who examined the young chap and pronounced him okay for the moment until X-ray tests could be conducted to see if any fractures resulted. Unfortunately, the X-ray machine of the University Medical Centre was not functional and so the injured boy's brother's and sister would have to search for X-ray services offered outside the school premises (Lord have mercy!). Family members went into town to search a clinic with X-ray services and what they discovered is just as disappointing. One of the Clinics contacted said they offer X-ray services only on weekdays (Isn't that absurd? Why would they have such a myopic policy? Do people fracture bones only on weekdays?).

My classmate had to lie a hospital bed unsure of his condition until today. My schedule was so grueling that I could not visit, so I can't say if he managed to get the X-ray test done. The only wounds visible to the eye are his swollen fingers and wrist(he landed with them) and there's a bulge to the left of the knee cap of his right leg beside an ugly bruise. On the day the incident took place, he could walk around unsupported and gist with us.

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