Sad Story of Woman who fell into boiling oil while frying meat

Afusat Jimoh’s life changed seven years
ago after she fell into boiling oil.At the
time, she was helping an aunt living in
the Ejigbo area of Lagos State to fry
some pieces of meat when she suddenly
had epileptic convulsion and fell into
the sizzling oil.
While battling with the burns she
sustained in the incident, her six-
month-old child fell ill and died,
followed by the death of her husband.
Punch Metro learnt that after many
years of trying to find solutions to her
woes, her mother also abandoned her
and fled.
The Lagos State Government, which
promised to foot the bills for a face-lift
surgery, was said to have defaulted on
its pledge.It was learnt that Afusat now
begs for alms in order to raise funds for
her surgery.
Punch Metro visited Ijeshatedo Street in
the Surulere area of Lagos, where the
Kwara State indigene resides with an
uncle, Abdullahi Ayinla.She had a veil
on her body with which she covered her
injuries.
She said,
“I was helping my aunt to fry some
pieces of meats. There was nobody
at home that day and I didn’t know
when I felt dizzy and unconsciously
fell into the hot oil that I was using
to fry the meat.“People came late to
my rescue, by which time the oil
had damaged my face, arm and
neck.”
Afusat said she was rushed to a nearby
hospital, where she spent four months
before being transferred to the Burns
Unit of the Lagos State University
Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.While the
hospital doctors were battling to restore
her health, her baby, Fatai, died.
She said,
“My child died because I could not
breastfeed him. After his death, my
husband was no longer coming to
the hospital to check on me and
that gave me some concerns. After
several months, we decided to look
for him at their family house. I was
told that he had died and his family
did not want to compound my
woes, which was why they left me
in the dark.
“Right now, I also don’t know
where my mother is. She has left
me for years and I have lost all
contacts with her. The only person I
have around me now is my uncle
and my old father who visits once
in a while.
‘’I was selling ready-made clothes,
but people were afraid of
patronising me because of my
looks. This was why I started
begging to complement the little my
uncle provides.’’
It was learnt that the family’s efforts to
raise funds for her to undergo a
surgery, had not yielded any result.
A document, purportedly issued by an
Indian medical facility in Mumbai,
Wockhardt Hospitals, dated July 2012,
showed that the cost of the surgery was
N3m, excluding her cost of travel.
A non-governmental organisation, Dot
Human Development, was said to have
written the Lagos State Governor,
Babatunde Fashola, requesting support
for the victim.
The state’s Ministry of Health, in
another letter by the then Permanent
Secretary, Dr. Femi Olugbile, directed
LASUTH management to do the surgery
free of charge.
The letter, dated April 2013, reads in
part,
“Afusat accidentally fell into
boiling oil during an epileptic
attack six years ago. She sustained
a third degree burns to the face
that healed with scarring and
disfigurement of the face.
“Following a request, she was
referred to LASUTH for assessment
and recommendation. The plastic
surgeon and the Ophthalmologist
both confirmed that the corrective
surgery can be done in LASUTH.
“In view of the above, you are
kindly requested to carry out the
surgery on the victim on
compassionate ground. Please
forward the details of cost of
management to the Ministry of
Health for consideration.”
A reaction to the letter, dated July,
2013, however, said,
“The initial procedure in this
patient will involve the insertion of
tissues which will be procured from
outside sources.”
The victim’s uncle, Ayinla, said the
LASUTH doctors explained to the family
that they needed funds from the state
government to procure the tissue and
without it, they would not be able to do
anything.
“We started going to the state
secretariat to see how they will give
the LASUTH doctors the money, but
they kept directing us from one
desk to the other. We were
frustrated and we had to leave the
hospital,” he added.
When contacted, the Lagos State
Commissioner for Health, Jide Idris, did
not pick his call. A text message sent to
his phone had also yet to be replied to
as of the time of filing this report