Babasuwe may suffer life threatening Peritonitis

Ace comedian, Babatunde Omidina alias Baba Suwe, who is currently being detained by the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly ingesting hard drugs, may suffer life-threatening peritonitis requiring emergency laparatomy should the retaining membrane of the substance rupture in his abdomen.

Expressing concern over the ‘drama’ that has grabbed the nation’s attention, Dr. Emmanuel Enabulele, a surgeon and medical director of Joekem Clinic, Mazamaza, Lagos said: “If there is a complication, peritonitis will happen in less than 24 hours.

There would be severe abdominal pain, he would be in distress, he may even have a fever, and then he may need to have an emergency laparatomy, where doctors would have to operate on him immediately to either cut off part of the intestine or evacuate whatever segment of the bowel the ingested narcotic drug is located. Most importantly, he must pray he makes it.”
A laparotomy is a surgical procedure in which a large incision is made through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity.

Against the background that the NDLEA was granted a court injunction to detain him for another 15 days to ensure that Baba Suwe excretes the alleged mass of ingested narcotics, which a confirmatory CT-scan done at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) showed were still lodged within his abdomen, Enabulele warned that the longer the drugs stayed in his body, the risk of a rupture increases thereby putting the ace comedian at death’s door.
To avoid this possibility, he advised the NDLEA in the interest of saving the life of the suspect to approach the court for an order to force-feed him, given that the suspect was refusing to eat, claiming that he eats only once in three days. This has predictably insured that not enough feacal could be built up to compel more bowel movement necessary for defecation.

He said: “It is possible for NDLEA to get a court injunction to force-feed him. Then the normal physiological process will take place and he will excrete.”
On the long-term effect of Baba Suwe surviving emergency laparatomy should it become necessary, Enabulele explained that it would depend on the extent of damage to the intestine as a result of the rupture.

“That depends on the collateral damage caused to the intestine that was dissected, he may have some mal-absorption and digestive problems. But if the segment is not long, he might just live a normal life like any other person that has intestinal interception or intestinal volvulus that had a laparotomy,” he said.
Would Baba Suwe be unconsciously signing his own death certificate if he continued to refuse eating food and the retaining membrane holding the substance ruptures within his body, Enabulele was asked?

“Of course, inevitably, inevitably. If he refuses to eat, he would be on negative nitrogen balance, lose weight. He would be weak. In the heydays of the Irish Republican Army, I know that some of their men were on hunger strike for up to 66 days, but there is a limit to how far he would go. There is a limit to his obstinacy. He is making his matter more difficult by refusing to eat.”