In the morning, I was going to go to the medical emergency room at LASUTH to get some additional experience as my time in Lagos was very limited. Monday (Day 25) was considered a national holiday because of Easter and Tuesday was curfew for the governor elections and no movement was allowed between 8 AM to 4/5 PM except to vote. Despite just being in the ED for a brief time (due to my raging headache), I could get a sense that the struggles in Ibadan seemed to be struggles in Lagos. Financial issues seemed to still play a role though a certain portion of the public have "insurance' coverage in Lagos. Poor ventilation and overcrowding was evident even though today was a holiday. They told me that the hallway leading to the 2 consultation rooms for ED visits would be filled with pts lining up or in stretchers or wheelchairs.
Here is a consultation room. There are only 2 rooms to intake patients coming into the ED.
Whereas in Ibadan, there was a consultant in charge of the ED (but didn't see/staff all the patients), there was no dedicated consultant in charge of the ED at LASUTH. The physicians seeing patients today were trainees that had completed their house officer year and year of service to Nigeria. They hadn't entered a residency program yet nor did they have specialized training in emergency medicine. This was not dissimilar to Ibadan.
In the ED grounds, there is a men and women ward for the critical cases of which they are admitted to a medicine service. There is also a resuscitation room for the most critically ill. The medicine service will round on these patients in the emergency ward and the patients will remain in the emergency ward until they are deemed stable enough to go to the floor because the nursing ratio and care was so much better in the ED. I found some irony in this.
The wards consisted of one large room for men and women without drapes, maybe about 15-18 patients in each room. I met a senior registrar in dermatology who was very nice and she told me that yet again, the medicine consultants only round twice a week. The overwhelming mentality among consultants is that I'm higher up, why do I have to work every day?
There were a variety of signs in Ibadan that offered phone numbers to call with any complaints. Similarly, LASUTH had this as well. If you need to speak to the chief medical director any time of day, you can give them a call!
On my way out of the emergency room, a car pulled up with many concerned family members and a woman in the backseat that was clearly unwell and altered. I watched for a bit to see what would happen and by the time my driver had come to pick me up, the woman was not taken in and one of her family members was close to tears. Perhaps the delays were due to money, I'm not sure.
I walked around to take pictures of the campus. First, I was granted permission by the administrator on duty and then he reconsidered and asked me to stop.
Here is the medical emergency ward.
Here is the state of the art technology and diagnostic center that could be anywhere in the world that I mentioned earlier. I'll take pictures of the inside before I leave.
Upon returning back to the hotel, I promptly went to sleep for another few hours. Nathan had the same problem but didn't fall asleep until after 6 AM. I can only hope this Yoruba music is not a daily occurrence. Later, Nathan suggested that we check out Fela!, a Broadway show produced by Jay-Z and Jada and Will Smith that finished its run in NYC earlier this year (won some Tonys too!) and was the first Broadway show to tour Africa and with good reason. Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, pioneer of Afrobeat, and human rights activist who through his music and philosophy challenged the corrupt Nigerian government and politics. He had passed away in 1997 due to AIDS.
I knew little of Fela! but thought I might of heard something about it (given Jay-Z et al being involved). We tried to get the cheap seats (5000 Naira) but ended up getting the 10000 Naira seats that remained available. The show was originally scheduled to start at 7 PM (and start 8:40 PM due to African time) but because of the 10 PM curfew (the night before election), the show was to start at 5 PM. Well, not really 5 PM because when we arrived at 6:15 PM (due to delays in transportation, our driver wasn't allowed to take the new Toyota Camry to where the show was because of a lot of car theft around the area), the show had just started for a couple of minutes. We couldn't figure out where our legitimate seats were and the ushers told us just to sit anywhere so we got a pretty good view.
What can I say? The singing and dancing show was rocking! I have such new found appreciation for Afrobeat and for what Fela stood for. Had I wanted Fela! in the US, I would have had little understanding and context. However, being in Nigeria for almost 1 month has given me background and perspective on what his lyrics and music means to Nigeria. I could tell at the audience was very engaged and sang along. Nathan, who hung out with the cast a few nights before at a club, said the cast (they are the original Broadway cast) was so affected by these performances in Lagos as the stories they were telling in the show had such personal meaning and significance to Nigerians. The first Shrine was opened by Fela in Lagos!
There was the raunchy "clock" dance and the Zombie song that made a political statement about the Nigerian soldiers. Because of the Zombie song, which he played in concert in Accra, Ghana, riots broke out and he was banned from going to Ghana. In the show, he talks about how to wishes to leave Nigeria and wants to get consent from his mother, a human rights activists killed by the Nigerian government. However, in his life and his arguments led him to stay in Nigeria until his death.
During intermission, there was an announcement to please stay in our seats because the Vice President of Ghana was going to give some remarks. True to Nigerian form, people wandered here and there. The Vice President of Ghana gave very nice remarks as expected from a politician and commended Lagos State and the other organizers for bringing Fela! to Nigeria. He too personally was a huge Fela fan and had stated he hoped to bring Fela to Accra, Ghana for Ghanaians to enjoy as well, a major deal given how Fela was banned for causing riots in the 1980s! He also commend the Nigerians on a peaceful and transparent election thus far and encouraged them to continue to do so tomorrow for the governor’s election. The person that introduced the Vice President then made mention of Lagos State elected politicians which led to a tense moment with lots of booing. Guess the crowded didn’t like who got elected.
It was special to see Fela! where it all started and to feel the energy and appreciation of the audience. Afterwards, since it was their last show in Lagos before going to Amsterdam, the cast basically continued to sing and dance on stage. We were told not to take pictures earlier but that entirely went out of the window as everyone was recording the impromptu concert given by Fela's youngest son, Seun Kuti!
Here are some pictures:
Part of the set and the big screen to project the show to those in the bleacher seats.
Sahr Ngaujah who is of Sierra Leonean descent played Fela. The woman on the left played Funmilayo, Fela's mother. The other women in the background are Fela's women (he married a lot of women) and dancers.
Sahr Ngaujah is in white and next to him is Seun Kuti, Fela's youngest son who continues to perform with Fela's band.
My day didn't start out that great but ended on such a nice note. Our driver (who we hired for the night since our other driver couldn't take our new car for fear of theft) got us home safely and before the 10 PM curfew to boot. Nathan told me how The Shrine in Chicago has African nights. I think I might have to go check it out next time (just kidding.... sort of).
I ended the night seeing a cockroach in the bathroom. Of course. At least I'm going home this Saturday!
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