Nigeria Happened to me...

My best friend called me this evening around 4 p.m. to say he was having chest pain and sweating profusely. I immediately told him to go straight to the hospital. Fortunately, his neighbour was around and rushed him to a nearby hospital.

Unfortunately, that hospital didn't have an ECG machine, so he had to be taken to another hospital. An ECG was done and, when I saw it, it showed a classic heart attack (Anterior MI).

I requested that they start him on Aspirin while transferring him to the teaching hospital, but sadly, they didn't even have Aspirin available. I then told them to rush him to the state teaching hospital. When he got there safely, they were finally able to start him on Aspirin.

No Functioning Cath Lab

However, they informed his friends and neighbours that they did not have a functioning cath lab that could have helped save his life.

While I was trying to arrange for him to be moved to Lagos as quickly as possible, my friend died in the ambulance on the way there. It's about a five-hour trip. I was on the phone with them throughout, and this happened about three hours after they left the teaching hospital.

A Reunion That Will Never Happen

I was supposed to meet this guy next month in the Netherlands.

"Nigeria really did me dirty today. How can an entire state not have a functioning cath lab? How? I'm so broken right now."

— A Nigerian man has opened up about the circumstances surrounding his friend's passing, leaving him utterly heartbroken.