Ogebe Onazi MD

 PLEASE THE PICTURES YOU WILL BE SEEING ARE NOT PLEASANT

Patient brought into the A&E unit by am on 30 Dec, 2011 · Conscious, with profuse bleeding from the lower aspect of the face

 Name: A.O  Age: 22years  Sex: M  Occupation- Guest house attendant  Religion- xtian  Marital Status- Single  Educational Status- Tertiary

 He was at the guest house where he works, when he started experiencing abdominal pain and was on his way out at 10.45pm to purchase some medication to relieve his stomach upset; and then he stumbled into a street gang who asked him for his phone. He grudgingly gave them his phone which made his attacker to slap him on the face and to shoot him on his lower face

 Everyone fled the gun shot scene for his or her life leaving the victim helplessly alone in his pool of blood. The attacker also fled with his gang members. It was one of the guest house worker that spotted him staggering and crawling helplessly and called everyone attention to him. He was then taken to the police station where a police permit was gotten before been brought to the hospital where I work.

A young man lying consciously on the theatre table, bleeding profusely from his lower face, mouth breathing, with traumatised surrounding tissues,nasal bridge and cartilages, a broken left upper canine tooth. The entry point of the bullets is the area immediately below the left nostril and the exit point was close to the right cheek. Our intervention was a wound exploration under general anaesthesia

 Hospital logistics - 75USD (12,000 Naira)  Wound Exploration USD (25,000 Naira)  Medication- 125USD( 20,000 Naira)  Total is USD(57,000 Naira) This is the total cost he had accumulated as at the 2 nd day of admission. What will be the eventual cost when he is certified fit to be discharged home ?

 Psychological trauma: This experience will always hunt him for as long as he lives. His live has been altered by the bullet.  Cosmetics: The scar it will cause on his face will always remind him of this experience.  Respiratory problems  Speech problems  More economic costs

 Armed violence continues to be a menace and costly health threat in our society.  Medical doctors have a role to play through advocacy in:  Driving policy change to control firearm violence especially from Small Arms & Light Weapons (SALW)  Education of the public and policy makers on the health effects of SALW.  Victim assistance and rehabilitation.