‘How I Want to be Remembered’
The greatest satisfaction Dr. Albert Charles Ekop has attained in life as a surgeon is using his hands and knowledge to cure patients. As the Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in England gets set to celebrate his 80 th birthday tomorrow…
The greatest satisfaction Dr. Albert Charles Ekop, the Chief Medical Director, St. Luke's Hospital, Anua in Akwa Ibom State has attained in life as a surgeon is using his hands and knowledge to cure patients. As the Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in England gets set to celebrate his 80th birthday tomorrow, he tells Mary Ekah about his sojourn as a medical practitioner and surgeon, among other issues
How does it feel attaining 80 years?
The exact day of my touching this planet earth, I don't know, but I have been informed by my late mother that I was born the same year as my half-sister, who was born in 1935, so, sometime this year, between January and December, I should be 80 years old. It feels very normal, in fact, the only difference is that one is not as hyper-active as when one was 50 or 60.
Is there any special plan to mark your birthday?
Yes. I planned that on that day we will just go to church, say some prayers and come back home, but my children thought differently, they say we should mark it, no matter how little. The birthday falls on November 21, while our wedding anniversary is November 22.
You seem to be so passionate about your job, that you wouldn't let go even when you have passed the retiring age. What is the driving force?
Well, I seem to have the energy to carry on, not by any action of mine, or by anything that I have done. It is by God's grace. Besides, as a surgeon, one derives great satisfaction from successful surgical operations, which in turn makes me want to carry on and on. The driving force is the grace of God, augmented by a steady home front; a caring and loving wife. These are the combinations that keep me going.
How did your sojourn into the medical field start?
When I finished primary and secondary school education at St. Michael's Central School, Obong Ntak and Holy Family College, Oku Abak, respectively, I proceeded to St. Patrick's College, Ikot Ansa for higher school where I obtained the Cambridge Overseas Higher School Certificate. I offered Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology and passed all four subjects at Principal level with Distinction in Zoology. I then got into the then University College Ibadan but I had not been counseled on what course to offer. At a point I went to my father, who had no formal education, and told him I wanted to go for higher studies and I would like him to advise me on what course to offer, so he asked me which courses were available, and I told him; Agriculture, Medicine, and Zoology. He asked what jobs one would do after studying those courses at the university, I explained each course to him and what one is likely to do after graduation, he did not approve of Agriculture and Zoology. But when I explained to him that a person who studies Medicine in the University will become a medical doctor, he asked me in my native dialect: 'doctor ufok ibok? (Is that a doctor in the hospital?) I said yes, and he said go for that. That was how my choice was made. I entered for it, and I have no regrets that he made that choice for me. My father actually made that choice because he was himself an herbal healer, who uses all sorts of herbs to heal people.
So if you were not in the medical profession, what would you have done?
I would have been a zoology teacher. As I said, I had a distinction in zoology, and the love of it is still there, and I would have loved to have pass my knowledge to the younger ones.
Your job as a surgeon seems to be the kind that takes most of your time, energy and passion. Do have time to relax and spend time with your family?
I create time for all those things but I must confess that from time to time, it could be frustrating, there are times when you may want to have some quiet time
with your family, but there is that call and you are a doctor, you have promised that you would abandon all and go for it. For example around 1993, I used to be a visiting chief consultant to St. Mary's Hospital, Urua Akpan. So on Christmas day, they sent for me, that there was an emergency in the hospital, and usually on Christmas day, there was pounded yam and all that, and we were used to being at home, but I was told it was a huge emergency, so I had to abandon everything including my meal to go to the hospital and by the time I returned, it was midnight and the pounded yam was already cold but I had some joy that I had saved a life at that moment. The happiness of saving a young girl’s life superseded the happiness of eating pounded yam at home.
Is your wife also in the medical profession?
Yes, she is a retired senior nurse.
How did you meet your wife?
I was working in this hospital during the Biafran Civil War, carrying out lots of surgical operations, because there were a lot of casualties coming from the war front, and she was assisting me as a scrub nurse, and during one of those operations, I got attracted by her beautiful legs and while she assisted me, I was looking at her legs, and I think I admired those legs and felt I should get close to whoever owned them. Her presence was always a welcome distraction and a refreshing oasis in the desert of broken bodies and souls which were casualties of the Civil War. After that I explored, and we became friends and it matured into marriage.
So how did you approach her, after being attracted?
After work, I asked one of her mates to call her for me, and she came and I spoke with her, and she said Ah! See where you are and see where I am, how can you say we should be together. She was a mere scrub Nurse then while I was a senior doctor. But I said to her that that was the mystery she must come and understand, and after a few meetings and discussions, I put the question to her and she answered in the affirmative. But I didn’t start by asking her to be my wife, I told her that I have observed her, and I have been positively influenced by her majesty, sincerity, hardwork and it has made me to draw closer to her. So it was this sort of discussion that finally led me to the question: ‘Would you like to be my wife? And so we got married on November 22, 1969. And since then our relationship has been very cordial. If I could come back to this life, I would like to marry her again.
What would you describe as your highest point in life?
My high point in my life is still fresh in my memory. On that particular occasion, I had gone into the operating theater on a Tuesday, and I stayed all Tuesday without coming out, and again on Wednesday, I stayed all day without coming out, in fact it was the Reverend Sisters in the Convent who would send me biscuits and Bournvita, and on Thursday by 4:00pm, I said I must stop, go put up my feet and have a little thing to eat before I continued. As I stepped out, I saw a soldier on the corridor, standing there with his uniform folded in his hands. As I looked at him, my mind was still set to go home and freshen up and then he said, please sir, help me! And I said I will help you but give me a little time to go home and come back. And then he said, please sir, by the time you come back I will be dead. And I said what do you mean you will be dead? And he opened his uniform which was folded and in there he was carrying his intestine. Do you know strength came from nowhere as soon as I saw his intestine folded in his uniform and I went back? That was a soldier who a single shot had scattered his intestine and lacerated his liver, so we operated on him for about three hours, and the success story is that he walked out of that hospital ten days later.
What is your lowest moment in life?
My lowest moment in life was when I lost my second child. He was 16 going to 17, and he had offered to become a priest, and in fact he was in the seminary when he fell sick, we did a series of test, and it was discovered he had leukemia. There were some complications in his body which needed surgical operation, which a surgeon friend of mine did and three days later he died. What made his loss so significant was that I had developed an unusual love for him. Not that I hated my other children, but this was my favorite, and I really was down when he died. Then someone came to my house when I was still in that mood, and as I am speaking right now, I still can’t recall who it was; so he came in and said to me, ‘I heard what happened to you. I was going somewhere but I said I should stop and ask you this question: ‘Are you going to love the gift more than the giver? That’s all I came to ask you’ and he left. When he left I kept thinking about that question. I said let His will be done and I consoled myself.
What legacies would you want to leave behind?
I would like to leave behind the legacies of hardwork, integrity and sincerity. And when I have returned to my maker and if there is a need to write any epitaph on my tombstone, what I request is for it to be written that, “Dr. Albert Ekop performed surgical operations"
Why that?
I want it so because that is the peak of my life. This is where I have attained the greatest satisfaction, seeing a patient in difficulty, and using my hands and the knowledge given by God, to bring that person back to good health. I would like to be remembered that I took part in the exercise to give people back their lives and that is why I have remained in this profession till date.
Can you tell us more about your experience at St. Luke's Hospital, Anua?
During the war, I got drafted here between 1969/1970 before I left for more studies in the United Kingdom and when I came back, I spent a short time before going to another hospital in Calabar, and I was there from 1974 to 1980, when I moved to the ministry to become the Director of Medical Services, but in between 1981 to 1983, I had ventured into teaching in the university as a senior lecturer, during that period I was the Acting Provost, at the College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, so my second coming to St. Luke’s Hospital began in 2009 as a contract surgeon, engaged by government and the contract expired in 2014, but since then I have been going to the hospital, although not on any employment basis but on a voluntary basis. The question one doctor asked me, not many weeks ago is when will I stop operating? I wish I could give a categorical answer as to the date. A young doctor whom I asked to come and work with me, said in his own assessment of me, I would stop working by the time I turned 80, and I said to him that on particular day, I had carried out four operations.
So you still have strength to go on carrying out operations?
Yes. When there are emergencies, I just have to do them. But when I was an employee of this hospital, I used to perform over 16 operations in a day without getting tired, but now I get tired with one operation.
Even at age 80, you still look very handsome. I wonder how you looked when you were much younger. So how did you cope with the advances from women?
It wasn’t easy, but one thing was paramount in my mind, I had a picture in mind of whom I will eventually settle down with, so those who came discovered that I had not developed a liking for them, and there were many of them, you know many of the girls can be very passionate and desperate. I remember one who came to my house, it was a Saturday morning. She stayed from 8:30am until 6:30pm, she had breakfast and lunch and then said, I think I have stayed long enough, and then she left. In my mind, I did not think of getting entangled with her. And even after I got married, there were still some but I knew I had a repellant in the house, they dare not come too near.
How would you describe yourself?
I am not the outgoing type, I am shy and quiet, but I was not quiet as a child, but since becoming an adult, I have been quiet. I remember in the university, I was sitting with friends, and one of my classmate saw me, and went to call others saying, ‘see, he is talking’. I can't forget that day.
You must have erected a hospital in your village or community by now?
Unfortunately no, the only thing near that is the clinic beside my house here in Uyo.
You have given your time and energy in saving lives. Do you intend taking that further by establishing a foundation.
I thought about it, but people who set up foundations or NGOs have money before they do that, I haven't got that money. Honestly, if I had that money, I would love to set up a foundation and build a school.
I would like to leave behind the legacies of hardwork, integrity and sincerity. And when I have returned to my maker and if there is a need to write any epitaph on my tombstone, what I request is for it to be written that,“Dr. Albert Ekop performed surgical operations