Nigeria: Calabar father pleads for help as 7-year-old’s post-explosion medical bills pile up

By Zuleihat Owuiye, Nigeria

Anietie Ekere is appealing for urgent financial help to cover his 7-year-old daughter Happiness’s treatment nearly two months after a gas explosion at Fonex Filling Station, Edibe-Edibe, Calabar South.

Happiness survived the March 20 blast but sustained severe burns. She’s still being treated at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH.

Ekere, a daily-paid laborer, says the family has been left to cope alone. He claims no representative from the filling station has visited or offered support since the incident.

“The hospital keeps asking us to buy drugs and wound-care materials outside. Some days I spend ₦10,000 just on medicine, not counting transport. I’m only managing,” he said.

Doctors recently performed surgery on Happiness, but told the family another major procedure could cost over ₦1 million. 

The burden grew heavier after Ekere lost his 15-year-old son Solomon to injuries from the same explosion about a week later. “My daughter is still struggling to stand and walk. I don’t know where the money will come from,” he said.

Volunteers from a support group, Brotherhood, say they’ve spent close to ₦1 million so far on drugs, tests, and consumables. Some medications and injections cost up to ₦13,000, while wound dressings run nearly ₦15,000 each.

The Cross River State Government has covered surgery and some procedures, but daily treatment costs still fall on the family and volunteers.

Ekere is now calling on the state government, Nigerians, and relevant authorities for aid. “All I want is for my daughter to survive. I cannot lose another child,” he pleaded.