Drama in Ikeja as Health Workers Flee From Suspected Lassa Fever Patient

 

It was drama at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, as Health Workers took to their heels when a patient who was suspected to have been down with Lassa fever was brought to the Medical Emergency Unit of the hospital on Wednesday, Punch reports.

 

According to an attendant at the unit, the middle aged security officer was rushed to the hospital by his colleagues on Wednesday morning after he began bleeding through the nose. One of the nurses at the unit with the doctor on duty eventually came to the patient’s aid and later directed that a series of tests be conducted on him before he was admitted into the ward.

 

A medic at the unit said that they were taking precautions to ensure that they were wearing protective garment before attending to sick patients to prevent any cross-infection should it be Lassa fever. The doctor and a senior nurse at the unit also advised the attendants not to panic when patients with symptoms of fever were brought to the hospital.

 

She said, “These bleeding could have been as a result of tuberculosis as he complained that he had been coughing a lot lately.”

 

However, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said that any health worker or doctor found to have rejected sick patients over unfound claims would be sanctioned. Adewole said that such a reaction from health workers who should know better might frustrate ongoing efforts to detect and treat suspected cases of Lassa fever.

 

He insisted that sick patients or those with symptoms of Lassa fever should be taken to LASUTH, as doctors and nurses at the tertiary institution had been trained on how to quickly attend to such infectious diseases.

 

Adewole said, “It is an unprofessional behaviour and if we investigate this, we would sanction such health workers. If there is a suspected case of fever, please go to LASUTH, it is a tertiary hospital and they have adequate health professionals to handle many cases. No one should turn a patient away on the basis of a fever.”