Nigerian First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan underwent surgery for appendicitis at a German hospital last week, after being flown out of her native country for medical treatment.
Hospital officials have banned visitors, including Nigerian officials, from seeing Jonathan in order to hasten her recovery. The First Lady spent four days being treated for food poisoning in Nigeria before her husband President Goodluck Jonathan suggested that she seek “thorough treatment” overseas. Doctors at the German hospital Horst Schmidt Klink in Wiesbaden, Germany, then diagnosed her with ruptured appendicitis.
“They say she has to be completely stable before she can be discharged, because they are still observing her, although the worst seems to be over now,” an anonymous source told THISDAY in Nigeria.
Jonathan was said to be fully conscious and ready to return home. No mention has been made as to whether or not Jonathan was flown to Germany due to inadequacies within the presidential medical staff or facilities. “Obviously, there is nothing to be worried about her condition. She has gone through the operation and she is fine,” reiterated the source.
Jonathan last appeared in public as the host of the African First Ladies Peace Summit in Abuja. A lack of information led to widespread speculation as to why she had disappeared. Some news sources went so far as to accuse the First Lady of flying to Germany for an adominoplasty, or “tummy tuck.” Nigerian officials came forward to deny the faulty claims and reinforce that Jonathan was receiving proper treatment.
“We have made it clear to those who want to hide everything that Dame Jonathan has not committed any offense by being sick since she is a human being,” said the source. “That is why there may be a change of attitude and Dame’s whereabouts and type of sickness made clear by her handlers.”
The administration’s transparency is in stark contrast to the situation involving the late Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua, who was portrayed by authorities as in good health while his deteriorating condition left him on life support.
