VETERAN actor, producer, director, author and architect of the national distribution framework initiated by the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Yinka Ogundaisi, is in pains at the Ward B of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).
Medical experts in Nigeria, India and the United Kingdom who have been on Ogundaisi’s case since February 2013 when his health condition became life-threatening, say Ogundaisi needs about N8million to get back on his feet. The various tests conducted and the most recent radiology report indicate that the Ogundaisi is suffering from ‘pathological fracture of 1.5 causing significant spinal canal stenosis’. The implication of this ailment, according to Dr. Vidyadhara, the chief spine surgeon at Manipal Hospital in India, is that Ogundaisi would suffer ‘significant instability (and) back pain by virtue of having a spinal fracture’’.
In addition, a patient affected by spinal canal stenosis, based on a review conducted by Dr Vidyadhara, would suffer ‘significant pain, numbness, weakness in the lower limb which will make it difficult for the patient to stand and walk’’. Another radiologist report from LUTH describes Ogundaisi’s illness as ‘metastasis spine disease and intervertebral osteochondrosis with osteoporotic fractures’.
Medical experts therefore advice that Ogundaisi undergoes surgical decompression and stabilisation of the spine at the earliest.
“I had hernia and then enlarged prostate which is understandable because one is 60, but the surgery on the hernia has been done. Much of the problem is with the spinal fracture’’ Ogundaisi said on his hospital bed. “It gets complicated daily just as the pain gets more severe. I have been on the bed for weeks now. I can’t even lie on my back. I have to do everything I have to do in this position. I seriously need help. Serious help. I don’t want to die,’’ He pleaded.
Although he noted that he has been assured that his case can be handled in Nigeria at a much higher cost, Ogundaisi said he has been advised to travel to India or the UK so his condition can be stabilized before it gets out of hand. “I want Nigerians to come to my aid. I am appealing to my state government, Oyo State, to come to my aid. I …also want the Lagos State government not to allow me die. I have spent all my adult life here working and paying my taxes… I have received help from the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) and the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB). They sent something to me, which is what I have used to offset some of my bills here at LUTH. But the more I stay here without any plan to undergo the surgical decompression, the more bills I will incur and the more complicated the case will become. I have spent all my savings and have sold all that is to sell just to be taken around, but I need the help of my colleagues in the industry, my friends at the Ikeja Country club and the help of organisations like the BOI and NEXIM that would still need my expertise when I am fully recovered to come to my aid.”
Ogundaisi, is a member of the prestigious Lagos Country Club and Founder of the Global Children’s Theatre which was launched with fanfare in 2002. He’s also a member of numerous professional associations, including the Nigerian Institute of Management and an accredited management trainer with the Centre for Management Development.
Help can reach Ogundaisi through:
UBA Savings account- 2000204307 and Cell phone number: 08023244456.
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