Nollywood actor, Sadiq Daba, is down with leukaemia which he’s has been battling with since 2015.
This news hit the internet some days back and the ailing actor has come out to reveal that he is practically surviving on a drug called Gleevec which costs about N1.7million per pack.
Punch disclosed that although the actor gets free supplies of the drug from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife through an agency based in the United States but the drug is very expensive over the counter.
Daba said: “To get the drug at OAU, you have to go through a process of evaluation. Then you are recommended to the foundation that supplies the drug. But, if you are going to buy it off the counter, a pack of it will cost you about N1.7m. And this will last for three months.”
Speaking on how he discovered he had leukaemia, the ailing Nollywood actor said: “I thought I had malaria fever. So I went to a hospital in Abuja for a test. After a series of tests, the doctor was shocked. He told me that what I had was beyond them at the hospital. He advised me to seek help from a tertiary institution.
Tertiary institution, in this case, simply refers to a university teaching hospital.
That was in 2015. Then I went to the Dermatology Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and it was confirmed that I had Leukaemia. Fortunately, the disease was not overblown yet. It was still at the early and manageable stage. I was placed on drugs.”
Daba also added that when his condition became critical at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), the doctor in charge of his case gave him a referral letter to Department of Dermatology in OAU.
The ailing actor is still receiving treatment there and has been warned never to skip his drugs which were donated by Max Foundation, even for one day.
