Igbobi ‘bone’ hospital records drop in okada-related accidents

okada riders

It is about a year since the partial ban on the operation of commercial motorcyclists, popularly called okada, took effect in Lagos. However, Mr. Sunday Giwa, a resident, said he was yet to pardon the state government for the hardship it had caused him.

Giwa had grown used to taking okada to work when traffic peaks in the morning and similarly on his way back home in the evening, but the ban on okada riders from operating on 475 major roads and bridges in the state changed his comfortable routine. Therefore, since the partial ban, Giwa said he has had to leave home early to beat the morning traffic and return late in the night due to traffic.

He said, “Before, I only had to take a bike in the morning from Oshodi, where I stay, to work at Apapa and then, back at night. But now, I spend so many hours in traffic because there is no other option. Sometimes, I also have to trek some distance when buses are scarce. Generally, moving around in Lagos has been made difficult by the ban (on okada). I was not in support of it and I’m still not in support of it.”

Giwa is not alone as many residents also kicked against the new Traffic Law, which provided the legal backing for the partial ban on okada riders, when it was passed in August 2012.

In response to the public agitation that met the decision to partially ban okada riders in the state, government argued that the rate of okada-related accidents was much, among other reasons, promising that the move would address the problem.

However, the initial reservations expressed by some Lagos residents in 2012 remain with some of them asking  if their sacrifice has been worth it, barely a year after the partial ban.

At the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi in Lagos, the biggest out of three of such in Nigeria, and a major destination for trauma and accident victims in South-West Nigeria, statistics show that there has been a drop in the number of victims involved in okada-related accidents since the partial ban took effect.

The Hospital’s Head of Emergency Department, Dr. Osita Obianyor, who compared the number of okada-related accident victims over a 16-month period, covering the period before and after the partial ban, said the drop has been about ten per cent.

He said, “It (rate of okada-related accidents) has generally reduced in terms of statistics. Before the ban, between January and August 2012, we saw 423 patients that had okada accidents. In a similar eight month period, from September 2012 to April 2013, we saw 379 patients involved in okada-related accidents.”

Consequently, the job of health workers at the hospital, according to Obianyor, has been made easier by the partial ban, considering the fewer number of patients needing their attention.

Obianyor added that the partial okada ban has also had a positive effect on the congestion of patients in the hospital wards.

He said, “It has also made the job of health workers a bit easier and it has solved congestion also in the wards. Before, we used to have a lot of patients involved in okada-related accidents. It could be the rider or the passenger or someone knocked down, but that has reduced.

“If you go to the (casualty) ward now, maybe out of 10 or 15 patients, the people that had okada-related accident and lying there will not be more than two or three.”

“Also, the workload, especially on the part of the nurses, has reduced. It’s the nurses who spend more time with the patients. They are to see the patients’ one by one, administer drug, check their vital signs, attend to their needs -bed pans, urinal or bathe them.”

In addition, Obianyor said such a reduction could also relieve the pressure on public health facilities in the hospital.

Information gathered from a cross-section of nurses at the hospital confirms the drop in the number of patients. However, the nurses denied that their job had been made any easier since the okada ban.

A  nurse who pleaded anonymity, described the said reduction as “too insignificant to make any difference in the workload.”

The nurse reeled out a number of other accidents which are still common occurrences.

The source said, “We still have other auto accidents -pedestrians knocked down by cars while crossing the road, patients suffering from trauma, elderly people with knee or back pains; victims of collapsed buildings, people who get injured while carrying heavy loads or somebody who got injured while directing a crane on a building site and more.

“Immediately people see blood in any accident, you hear people shouting ‘Igbobi-igbobi’, so our workload is still much like before.”

The hospital’s popularity with okada-related accidents grew with the story of a famed okada ward, where only patients of okada-related accidents are believed to share their time and experience while at the hospital.

But this claim was swiftly dismissed by the hospital workers, who insisted that there were no specialised wards at the hospital.

Investigation shows that the hospital has 15 wards with 11 of them having 32 beds each. The remaining four wards with lesser number of beds include the Intensive Care Unit, Burns Centre and the Spinal Cord Injury ward.

In his reaction, Obianyor said, “No, there is nothing like an Okada ward here. You see them (patients who had okada-related accidents) in any ward with space. It doesn’t matter what the injury is, you can go to any ward.”

But interestingly, about half of the okada riders who end up at the hospital are adjudged to have been induced by alcohol. Obianyor added that the figure could be more than 50 per cent.

He said, “Alcohol is a major issue; out of 100 of the patients, about 50 will be drunk, but it can even be more.”

Another nurse who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said hospital health workers are able to tell the rider apart from others involved in okada-related accidents by their injuries.

The source explained that the riders, who are well-balanced on the bike, usually have hip and pelvic injuries, while the passengers end up with head or shoulder injuries when they get thrown off the bike.

She said, “It also depends on the impact or what was hit, but mostly, the rider can have fracture of the tibia and fibula or pelvic injury, and the passengers have head or shoulder injuries. That’s how we know the riders.

“Many of them (okada riders) are so tipsy when they are brought in, that as we are busy trying to save them, they would be vomiting all over the place. And when we try to give them anaesthetic, they don’t feel the impact immediately. If they have to take a bottle of anaesthetic, they finish the whole bottle and nothing happens to them.

“They will be restless and sleeping and waking up and nurses have to spend more time on one patient when we should be attending to the others.”

But ironically, patients of okada-related accidents at the hospital said they were against the ban, in spite of their conditions.

A patient, Mr. Dayo Olawale, who claimed to have “totally collapsed” following his accident, said he would return to riding okada when he leaves the hospital.

He said, “I have no other job so there is no other option than to return to riding okada. If government would ban okada operation the way they did, they should have provided us with alternatives. And I have a three-year old baby and a wife to feed.

“Okada business is risky but we can’t steal; I’m riding okada just to make ends meet. I make between N5,000 and N10,000 daily from okada business, but I’m willing to leave it if I get another job.”

Olawale had been in the hospital for two months following an accident around Ijesha area of Lagos, where he claimed to have been hit by a vehicle. Gladly, Olawale’s injuries were healing and discharge date was getting nearer, but he said the thought always filled him with apprehension because  he might not be able to pay the hospital bills.

He said, “I have a feeling that I might be billed up to N200,000 but since I’m not working, I don’t know where to get it from. We’ve spent so much on drugs already.”

Olawale denied ever taking alcohol because of his faith, but admitted that some of his colleagues ride while they are drunk.

He, however, identified the police as a major factor behind the number of okada-related accidents in the state, since the ban of okada on highways in Lagos.

He accused the police of chasing okada riders on the streets that do not fall under the category of roads where okada riding has been banned.

He said, “The police problem is the major problem because there is no rest for us even in places where we have not been banned. Once we sight them, we speed as if we are thieves because they disturb us up and down.”

Mr. Felix Igwe, who was also involved in an okada-related accident, lay at the hospital with a heavily wrapped left foot.

Igwe, who was a passenger, said the okada rider was attempting to run away from the police when the accident occurred.

He said, “The rider saw the police and fled, but my leg caught the door of a vehicle; I had a deep tear from my toe up to my ankle.

“It is not good enough that when they (okada riders) see the police, they try to run and accidents may then occur. Enforcement agencies should also do more to check okada riders from riding while under the influence of marijuana or alcohol.”

Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos, Mr. Damasus Ozoani, however, denied the allegation of overzealousness on the part of the police, saying okada riders have no reason to run from the police.

He said, “Anybody who is law abiding will not be afraid of the police. There is a law banning okada riders in some routes, but when they see the police, they will run into inner routes.

“We don’t want anyone to be injured; we want people to obey the law as stipulated by various restrictions, but okada riders are not helping us. In other countries, you see people obeying the law, but here, they want the police to run after them.”

The Lagos State Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr. Nseobong Akpabio, promised to work more with the hospital to bring down the number of persons riding under the influence of alcohol.

He said, “It is a good information for us and we will work on it and we will like them to share the data with us; we will also like to work with them (hospital authorities) to see what we can do. When we arrest any person suspected to be driving under the influence of alcohol, we administer breathalyzer, but we don’t just assume that someone is driving under the influence of alcohol unless we are sure.”