Some medical doctors in Ibadan have called for the removal of people with “gory ailing sights” who beg for money on Nigerian roads.
The medical professionals who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Ibadan said the removal of the gory ailing sights was necessary for maintenance of good psychological health of Nigerians.
Dr Foluso Olajide said that there were better ways of how the ailing people could seek for help and it would not affect the well being of others, especially children.
According to Olajide, there were a lot of people now who seek for public help using their medical conditions that are not terminal in nature.
“Some of these things are used to harass the public such as swellings, tumors and skin diseases; these things can be managed in medical facilities and some of them are not even life threatening”.
“But these people expose them to the public in a bid to attract sympathy. I think it is dangerous to the psychic of children in particular; and some adults cannot handle the sight of these gory graphics as well,” she said.
Olajide called for a swift response of social welfare agencies so as to put an end to the menace, which she said, had become a means of livelihood for those concerned as well as business venture for their associates.
The other expert, Dr Folake Olasemi, said, “Gory graphics of ailing people on our roads is very disturbing but some of the people concerned have no choice; so government needs to stand up to its responsibility. The social welfare office should be allowed to work the way it ought to as in other climes for us to have a healthier and sane environment,” Olasemi said.
In Ibadan for instance, there is an alarming number of people with various medical conditions and seeking for help on the roads.
The people who move with them now wear uniform and carry envelops and pictures showing the sick person begging for money. (NAN)
