Idowu Obasa: A Man with a Heart of Gold

It is always obvious to those who live beyond 100 years and can retain their mental faculties that there is no end to surprises. The things commonly defined as amazing and miraculous can still buckle under the weight of newer developments. Consider the latest gesture of Hon. Idowu Obasa, two-term former Chairman of Onigbongbo Local Council Development Area, Lagos State, for example. Putting the said gesture in true context, Obasa is a dragon among men and worthy of emulation.

Lagos is still in an uproar in response to the super charitable deed by Obasa. He donated a lithotripsy machine to the Urology Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos, earning a deluge of gratitude and praise from Lagosians. Experts say that because of Obasa’s donation, patients with kidney stones and other kidney-associated diseases will no longer have to worry about enduring overly painful surgeries to treat their conditions.

Witnessing the donation, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, noted that things will be very different going forward, with a significant increase in the survival rate of people going through surgical operations related to kidney problems. He said that Obasa’s gesture is evidence that biotechnology is reaching a level of solving all kinds of ailments without subjecting patients to critical pain.

One can say that Abayomi is only half-right. In truth, it is extraordinary gestures by ordinary people like Obasa that are bringing succour to millions of people suffering from one ailment or another. But Obasa has always been very interested in health matters, being the founder of Biomedical Limited, the first company in Nigeria to develop fluids specially made to flow within the veins and thereby speedily and effectively treat illnesses.

Indeed, the evidence of Obasa’s golden heart in this gesture has brought tears to the eyes of the ordinary man. He can only hope that Obasa’s peers will emulate his good work.