Concord Times (Freetown)
Stanley Bangura Jr.
23 May 2011
Beijing — Should the decision by the Wuhan University authorities which was designed to return an ailing geo-physical Master’s student Solomon Peter Gbanie back home to Sierra Leone not timely halted by Ambassador Joseph M. Koroma, then the young man could have been a dead man by now.
Solomon Peter Gbanie, a Sierra Leonean student was recently sick and later diagnosed of serious heart problem which led to his temporal admission at the Wuhan University hospital, but as his condition deteriorated he was rushed to the Chou Jin military hospital where a major operation was recommended by the medicos. But the cost for the operation was said to be too expensive and hence the university authorities decided to ferry him to die in his home country.
On hearing of this ugly development, Ambassador Koroma immediately halted the attempt and challenged the Chinese government that awarded the scholarship to provide the funds for the operation and the other medical bills for the ailing Gbanie. His demand was almost immediately met and the student was then taken to a more sophisticated hospital, where he is currently responding to treatment.
Speaking to me in a telephone interview, Mr. Gbanie thanked God for saving his life and Ambassador Koroma for his fatherly move. When he was informed that he will be taken back to Sierra Leone to die, he said: “I became devastated and felt like the sky was falling and if they had succeeded in their plan to take me home where no such sophisticated hospitals exist like the one here, I could have been a dead man”. Mr. Gbanie went further to state that latest diagnosis has cleared him of results of the earlier one made, which suggested heart problem and cancer.
“Now I have come to realise we have an embassy that cares for its citizens,” he concluded.
This move by Ambassador Koroma has been highly acclaimed by the students’ association vice president Amza Bangura. He said words are not enough to describe the kind character in the person of envoy Koroma.
“He is the right man for the job; President Koroma made no mistake in his choice of this man,” he remarked.
AllAfrica – All the Time
See the original article here:
Local Student in China Rescued By Envoy