Anaba Abugre, the Nine year old boy who got help through A1 Radio’s partners, Joy FM’s effort to get surgery in order to correct a birth defect that made it impossible for him to pass urine the normal way, is yet to get the surgery, despite having secured the needed funds to pay for it.
A1 News Editor and Joy News’ Upper East Correspondent, Albert Sore first filed the story about how little Anaba’s bladder is exposed resulting in his urine constantly dripping.
After the story was aired, Edlorm Real Estate Developers and other philanthropists, who prefer to remain anonymous, donated monies to help correct his defect.
However, despite having secured the money, Little Anaba has still been living with his condition for three months now and may not be getting the surgery till June this year because Doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching hospital keep postponing the surgery.
Here is a full report on Anaba’s current condition by Albert Sore:
Anaba Abugre is a member of a set of triplets born to his mother. At birth, he suffered a congenital medical condition known as Bladder Exstrophy and this makes it impossible for him to pass urine the normal way.
His urine always comes straight out of his body without him having to urinate. Therefore little Anaba is constantly soaked in his own urine and he wears diapers at age nine.
This was the story I told of this innocent boy who has become a laughing stock for his peers at school because of the smell of urine that is always hanging around him. His poor peasant parents could not afford the cost of his surgery.
On the 26th of December 2013, Edlorm Real Estate Developers, in partnership with JOY FM donated Five thousand Ghana Cedis for a surgery to correct little Anaba’s birth defect. The donation coupled with other smaller donations of a thousand Ghana cedis from persons who prefer to remain anonymous brought smiles on the faces of Anaba and his family.
But three months down the line, Anaba Abugre is yet to have his surgery performed. The surgery which is supposed to be carried out at the Korle Bu Teaching hospital has already been postponed severally and is now fixed for June this year.
I visited Anaba at his school, the Sakorit primary school at Zuarungu-Kpatia. He appeared focused on his studies but when I spoke to him, he shed tears, telling me what he was going through. I observed that Anaba’s pants were soaked in his own urine.
His mother was absent at the time of my visit but his headmistress, Margaret Adongo who is also a close a friend of Anaba’s family said Anaba has become antisocial at school because of his condition and his mother is struggling to make ends meet because she forfeited her petty trade to cater for Anaba, hoping that his surgery was going to be performed within a short time.
Raymond Ayine, External Affairs Director of Afrikids Ghana, a child rights NGO that received the donations on behalf of Anaba and has been trying to facilitate his surgery says the situation is becoming unbearable for the boy. He added that the resources that were secured to pay for Anaba’s surgery are being depleted due to the constant buying of diapers to manage his condition, pending the surgery. But a certain Dr. Asante at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital says the earliest date they can book for Anaba’s surgery is June 24, 2014.
Anaba and his family are appealing to the management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to help get his surgery performed as early as possible, so he can fully concentrate on his school.
For now, innocent little Anaba, even with the money for his surgery, will have to remain a victim of a cumbersome bureaucracy, suffering silently and waiting for an unknown person to decide his fate.
By: Albert Sore | A1radioonline.com | Bolgatanga, Ghana
