When 45-year-old Paul Arin Yakubu accompanied his older brother to Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad, India, he did not know that his own medical miracle was equally at sight. Mr. Justice Arum Ashom of the Plateau State judiciary had embarked on the medical trip while his brother had experienced the same sight problem.

Yakubu, who hails from a community in Jos East Local Government Area of Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, had noticed the medical condition quite early. He was 12 years old at the time. “My parents thought it was something they could just go to the hospital and it could be rectified,” he reminisced. “We went to the best of the hospitals within Jos and Bauchi, including government hospitals. But no remedy was found. Eye glasses were given to me. Each time I went to the hospital, I would have glasses that would be thicker than the previous one. But they were not helping me at all.”

At age 13 when Yakubu, now a staff of Plateau State Board of Internal Revenue, was in the second year of secondary school, he could not read what was on the classroom board. His teachers thought it was because he had his seat at the rear of the big classroom. He was relocated. “Yet, I could not read anything,” he lamented. “Reading my books was not easy at all. I had to squint my eyes and squeeze before I could see well.”

Yakubu was told in the various hospitals that he was short-sighted.

In May 2012 when he was on his second medical trip to Apollo Hospital, Justice Ashom took his younger brother, Yakubu along. It was there that the younger man got what he described as his own “miracle!”

After Mr. Justice Ashom’s successful surgeries for a similar condition, Yakubu was motivated to inquire from Dr. Mallika Goyal, who performed the operation. She referred him to her colleague, Dr. Rajesh Fogla.

Dr. Fogla, who had just resumed from vacation, examined his patient. He immediately swung into action. After the complex diagnosis, he came up with the verdict that Yakubu had corneal problem and recommended corneal transplant. He assured his patient that he would regain his full vision after the surgery.

Yakubu recalled: “He did the surgery, and right now I can see even without using my glasses. I don’t even read or write with my glasses, which I now use only when I am going out. Before the surgeries, I couldn’t see that well. It got so worse in 2012 I could not read anything properly. And my responsibilities were going by the day. The remedy came when I never expected. That is why I call it my miracle. The life challenge of over 40 years was remedied within four days.”

•Photo shows Paul Arin Yakubu, whose over 40 years challenge of poor eyesight was remedied within four days.

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