This man has been fixing broken limbs using traditional methods that defy orthodox medical values. Bernard Tolani, reports on the bone ‘god’ of Uyo who has been in practice for over 30 years and leading in a way others have never done.
This man has never gone to any school to train for the repairs of broken bones but he fixes bones using traditional methods, with ease and distinction.
There is nothing spectacular about Otobuk Street, a dusty single-lane road that is situated a few metres away from the bourgeoning? Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Complex, off the Oron-Uyo Highway in Akwa Ibom State.
But one thing remains a constant on the grimy road: visitors-some weeping, others shouting from the top of their voices- in desperation, always end up in one house on the street.
This five-bedroom house belongs to Uwem Akpan, a native of Itiam Etoi, who uses it as his residence and a theatre for broken bones. The house is not different from those on the street although it has over the years provided succour to scores of human beings-men, women and children- whose bones have at one time or the other been threatened? by fracture or dislocation.
Akpan, a father of three- a boy and two girls, and an elder with the Methodist Church, dispenses both spiritual and traditional healing to sooth the nerves of his ever-increasing clientele. But he remains a very humble and unassuming wonder worker, who has not allowed his popularity to sink into this head.
The man’s work and simplicity have elevated him above all other residents of the area and made his name synonymous with fame. If a visitor in desperate need of his service, he does not need to go far in search of help: even a small child knows his name and recognises his work. Such stranded visitor would be directed to the bone theatre of Mr. Akpan.
The man’s name has become a household name in an outside Akwa Ibom State apparently because of his unfailing services over the years.
Akpan, who claims he inherited the art of bone fixing from his father, Chief Otu Akpanudo, was not trained as a traditional bone specialist. He worked as a bursary staff in the former Cross River College of Education, which became the University of Uyo in 1990.
He was fixing bones as a hobby and making waves through it until when pressure from patients forced him to resign and concentrate on bone business.?
The decision to pay full time attention to bone fixing might have been taken as a sacrifice over 20 years ago but the decision has also paid off over time.
Today, Akpan is grappling with how to cope with the number of bone patients who have forced him to expand his residential house into a traditional bone hospital. He has not been able to carve out enough space for the large number of patients in spite of many expansion works on the small house that he erected for the comfort of his family.
The setting is just right for the man who has been hailed as the king of bone setting in Akwa Ibom State, where majority of those with fractures prefer traditional bone setters than seeking medical treatment.
From the outside, one can easily mistake Akpan’s bone clinic for one of those prayer houses but the inside says all about its work and magic. The instruments inside the house speak for themselves.
The patrons of the home cut across the different strata of life- the rich, poor, educated and illiterate, who see the craftsmanship of the bone specialist as God-ordained and they fix their hope and expectations on the man at all times.?
Akpan, who is armed with a school certificate and has been in the bone business for over 30 years, says he is inspired and directed on the job of bone fixing through ‘divine impartation’.?
What perhaps marks him out is that he treats all types of fractures, notwithstanding the severity and length of the ailment. “I have never recorded any complication all through my over 30 years of practice,” Akpan boasted.
Narrating his dexterity and expertise in the traditional healing of fractured bones, Akpan said that the duration of treatment and recovery from a typical bone fracture depend on many factors.
But in any case, a typical treatment starts with cleaning the affected wound before appropriate ground herbs and other concoctions are applied. The herbs used, according to him consist of potent herbs and potions of high grade, bamboo sticks and locally-made lotions.
Fresh broken bones are manipulated traditionally to bring the fracture to its anatomical position and then encased with wood and bandage to stabilize it.
The bandages are changed frequently to allow for application of more herbs. The affected limb according to him is stabilized for a period ranging from one to two months depending on the type of fracture and rate of healing, after which the patient is encouraged to engage in occasional use of walking sticks.
Fractures that fail to heal with the routine treatment of splinting and massaging may be given further traditional treatment by way of scarification. But Akpan says his treatment does not involve invocation or any form of fetish worship.
“We do not treat bones here by reciting incantations,” he emphansised.
The bone fixer maintains that although the origin of the practice of bone setting is shrouded in mystery, it was passed from one generation to another and it has played a vital role in health care delivery for centuries in this part of the world.
According to him, herbal medicines being natural gifts from God heal faster.?
“We have different herbs, lotions and balms for different injuries, sores and skin types, so we do not compound the patient’s problems by applying wrong herbal lotions. We have preparations for bones and sores.
“I know herbs to use for different problems through inspiration which I receive at night from God. In dreams, I will be shown different kinds of injuries or fractures and herbs to use.
“In some cases, I am even shown what to use for a patient aliment as he or she approaches the clinic. In that case, I prepare the herbal medicines before he or she is brought in and I go straight to treating him or her,” he said.
Uwem said he does not need an x-ray to know the nature of fracture and how to treat it.
“It is purely God’s gift. By placing my hand on the surface of the injured spot, I will know the type of fracture and position of the bone. I do not need x-ray to treat anybody. I thank God for the gift,” he said.
Some of his patients who are victims of impudent and reckless commercial motorcyclists corroborate? Akpan’s claims and the efficacy of? his bone healing power.
“I had a fractured leg due to the carelessness of one commercial cyclist last year. I thought my fractured leg would be amputated if I seek help from the hospital but people advised that I go to Uwem’s traditional bone clinic. I did not regret going to Uwem’s healing home because under three months I was able to use the leg again,” said Akanyene James a 43-year-old staff of Akwa Ibom State Water Board.
Narrating his experience, James Umoren from Ikot Akpankok in? Ukanafun Local Government Area of the state, a victim of KEKE NAPEP accident said? he had multiple fractures on his spinal cord when he was going to work one early morning in August last year and was taken to the bone specialist and was able to recover under two months.
“If I had gone to a hospital, I am sure I would still be bedridden,” the man said.
Akpan has won the hearts of his clients by charging minimal fees for his special services compared to the same service in orthodox hospitals and allied centres.
For instance, while hospitals in the state charge as much as N100, 000 to operate and care for a patient with fracture, Akpan take sa token of between N5000 to N20, 000 depending on the severity of the fracture. This affordability has attracted many who would have sought help elsewhere, to his home.
He even treats the poor free and sends them home at the end of their stay.
Like many other traditional bone setters in Nigeria, Akpan? did not train as an orthopaedic surgeon but his skills as a bone healer according to him are ‘inborn and God’s gift’.
He said that although the efficacy of traditional bone healing has not scientifically proved, it cannot be wished away. He? says he needs recognition and assistance from the? state government to enable him to improve? the? quality of service to the people but that he does not require further training as he is good at what he has been doing .
But medical experts say complications, such as infections,? usually arise from traditional healing through the methods used in managing these fractures.
Professor Etete Peters, the Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital argues that traditional bone setters are not professionals.
He said that the healers take advantage of ignorant persons who depend on customs and tradition in treating themselves. Such persons are afraid that their limbs would be cut off if they go to the hospital for fracture treatment.
“When a fractured bone is rested and it is kept in one place it heals. That is why the traditional bone setters keep the person in one place and the bone heals.
“But the orthopaedic surgeons monitor the healing process to ensure that it heals perfectly and they also give other medications and provide all active ingredients or substances that are required for the healing to take place fast and at the most efficient manner to make it as solid as it should be,” he said.
The CMD listed some of the risks inherent in traditional bone fixing to include disfigured limbs and obstruction of blood flow? which could terminate a patient’s life.