Ministerial Nominee’s Slump On Floor of Senate, a Medical Issue Not Witchraft – Oba (Dr) Alatishe

—— Blames NA for lack of trained personnel on rescuscitation strategies.

The Gbegande of Osasa Ijebu, Oba Adetoye Alatise has described the collapse of a ministerial nominee, Abbas Lawal during screening at the National Assembly as a medical issue which could happen to anyone and not witchcraft.

ValidViewNetwork had earlier reported that a ministerial nominee, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, slumped while being screened by the Senate on Wednesday, sparking frantic scenes in the Chamber.

The nominee, who is from Kaduna State, had spoken for minutes during his screening before falling to the floor with lawmakers rushing to his aid. He was later rescuscitated and returned to the screening.

Oba Alatise who is a medical doctor by profession gave his valid opinion alongside Dr. Oluwole Olaomi while featuring on a Channels Television programme on Thursday. He was unambigous in his assertion that the incident had nothing to do with witchcraft.

The Kabiyesi further emphasised the importance of putting people who are medically fit into office bearing in mind that political office holders go through lot of rigorous activities and stress.

While speaking on the incident, Oba Alatise gave some of the reasons that could have caused the ministerial nominee to slump during the screening,

“The nominee could have been fasting, which is very common among our people when they you go for things like that, the blood sugar level could have dropped.”

Narrating an experience to buttress his point, the monarch stated : “There was an incident where one of my high Chiefs had a heart attack and he thought it was an arrow from one of his enemies. And I had to take his blood pressure, it was 210/130. I admitted him starightway. He got better and is still alive today.”

He called for people seeking political office to be subjected to medical fitness examination.

“It is interesting to note that political office holders don’t do medical fitness examination. Medical fitness examinations should be part of the consideration.”

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“We need to have a tradition where it is compulsory for people to have medical fitness test. People should do medical fitness and show their certificate. It should be part of the requirements.”

The medical expert lamented that from the incident, it appeared staff of the national assembly were not trained on how to handle such emergencies like collapsing.

“I am worried that it appeared that the staff of our Senate were not trained in the simple method of resuscitation”.

The video had shown confusion with someone saying that the ministerial nominee should be given water, another pulling him up while another person carried chair all with a supposed good intention to asist the victim whereas their efforts could directly or indirectly worsen his case.

Apparently disappointed about the confusion, the lifting which could have endangerered the life of the ministerial nominee and worsen his case, the Kabiyesi stated : “raising him (the Ministerial nominee) up could have killed him. The way it was handled was bad.”

Both Kabiyesi and Dr. Oluwole Olaomi advocated for an immediate overhaul of the health policy of the nation making handling of emergency issues an integral part of the educational curriculum from elementatry school.

“We need to go back and educate everyone on life saving techniques. Doing that, we can all individually and collectively save lives.”

Born into the famous Balogun Alatise family of Ogunroyega ruling house, Ososa, Oba Alatise is a devoted Muslim with believe in the culture and traditions of the land

The medical doctor who also fell in love with stage play still consult and treat people at his health center despite being a monarch, ValidViewNetwork reports.