Doctors Remove Bullet From Brain

Accra, Dec. 16, Graphic -- Medical personnel at the 37 Military Hospital have successfully removed a bullet from the brain of a 35-year-old taxi driver, Mr Adama Sumaila,who was shot in the head by suspected armed robbers. The operation, which lasted about an hour, was conducted by Dr Jimmy M. Abubakar, a neuro-surgeon at the Military Hospital.

After the shooting incident, Sumaila semi-unconscious and on the brink of death for 10 days, unable to speak and with one half of his body paralysed.Narrating his ordeal to the Daily Graphic, Sumaila said on the night of October 23, 2004, around 9 p.m, he was heading for Legon on the Accra-Madina road when three men stopped him and asked him to drop them at the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) at Legon.

He said initially he was a bit hesitant as he was on his way to Circle but he later agreed and they sat in the car.

“When I moved the car, they asked me to stop. After I had stopped one of them turned off the ignition and asked me to get down. At this point,I started pleading with them but they insisted that I got down from the car and one of them forcibly pushed me out.As I sprawled on the ground one of them shot me in the head,”Sumaila narrated.

He said after he had been shot, he managed to stagger on the road for some time and a taxi driver who was passing by stopped and took him to the Military Hospital, where he was admitted.Sumaila said fortunately for him, his mobile phone was still in his pocket and so some of his relatives whose numbers were on it were subsequently contacted.

Sumaila who now walks and speaks without any difficulty, said he was grateful to God and the staff of the hospital, particularly Dr Abubakar, for helping to save his life. He expressed the hope that such professionals would be maintained in the country to help in health care