Former General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, Frank Kokori, has been admitted for kidney-related ailment at a private hospital in Warri, Delta State.
Kokori, who struggled to speak to journalists on his sick bed, with medics attending to him, said he had to plead with the management of the hospital to run their generators all through the night, so the air-condition in his private ward could function for him to stay alive.
The former NUPENG leader, who occasionally gulped water poured in his mouth as he spoke, said it was unfortunate that because of the economic situation, the hospital in an oil rich city as Warri was economising diesel.
He added that if he had money, he would have sought further medical attention overseas.
Commending the management of the hospital for all the sacrifices they had done for his sake, he said he relapsed into coma recently before he was revived and brought to the hospital.
Kokori said he managed to walk through the stairway of the hospital to the ward.
He said: “The hospital is trying, for running its generator till night. Without the air-conditioned ward, I could have just given up. I came out of coma, and I told my children to rush me to any kidney hospital, tell them to run their generator so I don’t die. I will pay their bills. Only one doctor was around. She was struggling to also attend to other patients.
“I came to this hospital when I was told there is a place like this in Warri. They have been doing their best. At midnight, they put their generator off. But I begged them to run it that I would pay their bills.
“I came on Tuesday. After the dialysis, I have been here. I could have just died because of a lack of diesel. I had to beg them to run their generator so the air-condition in the ward can function. I need it to be alive.
“It got to a stage that I could not take a flight, I could not walk . If it was when I was in NUPENG, I would have been flown out with air ambulance immediately.”
Asked if he would accept any kind of offer to be flown abroad for thorough medicare, the labour leader said he would not decline it. “Who would not agree? I don’t have the money before I would have said no,” he said.
The octogenarian still spared some time to talk about the state of the country, appealing to the Joe Ajaero led Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC,to give President Bola Tinubu sometime to deliver on his campaign promises.
Kokori said President Tinubu inherited an economy that was so battered by the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that the new government was using over 90 per cent of its revenue to service inherited debts.
He said: “The president just came on board, and the country is owing so much, so labour should give him some time. [Vanguard]
