The father of seven-year-old Happiness Ekere, one of the survivors of the March 21 gas explosion at Fonex Filling Station in Edibe-Edibe, Calabar South Local Council of Cross River State, has cried out over his daughter’s condition and the mounting cost of her treatment.
Happiness, who sustained severe burns during the explosion, is currently receiving treatment at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), nearly two months after the incident. Her father, Mr Anietie Ekere, told The Guardian that the family has been left to fend for itself, alleging that the owner of the filling station has neither visited nor supported them since the tragedy occurred.
“I have not seen anybody from the filling station since that day,” Ekere said in an emotional interview. “Nobody has come to ask about my daughter or how we are surviving.”
Ekere, a daily-paid labourer, said keeping his daughter alive has become a daily struggle as doctors continue to prescribe drugs and wound-care materials that must be purchased outside the hospital. “Even now, they still ask us to go outside and buy drugs,” he said. “Sometimes I spend about N60,000 in one day, and I am not talking about transport. I am just managing to survive.”
According to him, Happiness recently underwent surgery. The distraught father said the financial burden had become unbearable, especially after the family also lost his 15-year-old son, Solomon Ekere, who died from injuries sustained in the same explosion about a week after the incident. “My daughter is still struggling to stand and walk,” he said quietly.
A member of Brotherhood, a support group assisting the family, confirmed that volunteers and sympathisers had spent close to N1 million on drugs, tests and medical consumables since the incident. The source said many essential medications were unavailable at the hospital pharmacy, forcing caregivers to buy them from outside chemists. “One injection alone costs about N13,000,” the source said. “Dressing the child’s wounds can cost almost N15,000. The father is traumatised and afraid because he already lost one child.”
The source, however, acknowledged that the government had assisted with aspects of the surgery and some hospital procedures, but noted that most daily treatment expenses were still being handled by volunteers and the family.
Meanwhile, Ekere appealed to the Cross River State Government, public-spirited individuals and relevant authorities to urgently intervene and save his daughter’s life. “All I want is for my daughter to survive,” he pleaded. “I cannot lose another child.”
