This watch belonged to a pupil in my class who unfortunately is now of blessed memory. He passed on last week Thursday, April 16, just a few days before school resumed.
According to his mother, he started complaining of a headache from Sunday through Monday. He was given Paracetamol, but he did not feel better … the complaints continued. On Tuesday, after taking breakfast, he was sleeping when he suddenly woke up vomiting. Then his body became stiff … he could not move any part of his body, and even his eyes could not close.
They first rushed him to Health Net, where they tried to stabilize him before referring them to the Police Hospital. At the Police Hospital, they were referred to Korle Bu because they were told there was no bed available. At Korle Bu, they were again told there was no bed, and they should either take him away or wait until 8am the next day. By that time, the boy had developed a stroke. He could not move the entire right side of his body.
They were asked to go and take a scan of his head, but the scan showed nothing. Out of frustration and fear, they could not wait until 8am the next day at Korle Bu. They rushed him to Tema, but again they could not get a bed … this was somewhere around Wednesday dawn. They left there around 11am to another hospital at Prampram, and still, they could not find a place for the innocent boy to lie down and rest.
Out of frustration and desperation, the mother ended up taking him to a church that Wednesday evening. He was still unresponsive … he could not talk, and he could not move the entire right side of his body. His eyes were badly swollen. Later on Thursday, before they could leave for another hospital, the boy had sadly passed on. Meanwhile, earlier that Thursday according to the mom, he responded a bit. He even ate after failing to eat for two days, and moved the arm which he couldn’t move nor feel for two days.
He was a JHS 1 student, only 12 years old, very lively, full of life, and full of dreams.
I wish I could say more about this issue of no beds in our hospitals, but I will overlook it. I will only encourage our health workers to at least find a way to assist those who need help, even if it means laying a mat on the floor for them. These patients have relatives who, I am sure, would support with anything necessary just to keep their loved ones alive.
Back to the watch incident … a day before we vacated on April 1 this year, Frederick, the young man of blessed memory, complained that his watch was missing. We searched everywhere in the class, but we found nothing. Everyone said they had not taken it. We resumed just yesterday, and all the children in the class were informed that their colleague had passed on last week Thursday, so they would not be seeing him again.
Today … the watch was found in the class, exactly where the owner said he had kept it before it went missing. The thief had returned it because he or she heard that the owner had died. This is a JHS 1 class, where the oldest child is only 13 years old.
I am still trying to understand why the thief did not return the watch when the owner said it was missing, but chose to return it only after hearing that he is no more. What exactly is the person afraid of now?
The day this watch went missing, Frederick cried so much. He had bought it just a few days earlier because he wanted to wear it to our day, which was the very next day.
These children know what they are doing … and so do the hospitals that could not help Frederick with a bed from Tuesday until he left this earth later on Thursday.
#loveandpillsgh #Kwaku #RIPFREDERIC
