The management of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) said 28 health workers are in isolation for coming in contact with an accountant, Muideen Obanimomo who died of COVID-19 in the hospital last Thursday.
The Chief Medical Director of the UITH, Prof. Abdullahi Yussuf, disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing the press.
He said: “We are working with the Kwara State Government Technical Committee on COVID-19 to contact-trace all that attended to the index case.
“Already, all UITH staff members who had close contact with the deceased patient on the night of his admission, or his corpse have been ordered to proceed on self-isolation.
“Besides, the ‘A and E’ ward and the ambulance used to convey his corpse have been promptly fumigated.
“With all these level of preparedness and precautionary measures, we were taken aback to discover how a very senior consultant of this hospital had facilitated the admission of a suspected case of COVID-19 at the Accident and Emergency section of the hospital on the night of Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
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“We were fed with information concerning suspected food poisoning, as the cause of the death of the patient. But we later got another lead to the likely cause of the death of the said patient.
“In fact, it was shocking to us that the wife of the deceased patient had tested positive for the deadly virus as announced yesterday (Monday) by the Kwara State Covid-19 Technical committee.
“Without belabouring the narrative that led to the unfortunate incident, I humbly request you to use channels of your various media to help convey the remote and immediate decisions we had taken on the professor who facilitated the admission of the patient.
“The management of the hospital has placed Prof A. K. Salami on immediate suspension as a senior consultant in this hospital bothering on his unethical conduct in the admission, management and eventual release of the corpse of the suspected COVID -19 patient who died in the hospital on April 2, 2020.”
Yusuf revealed that the institution had set up an investigation committee to determine the culpability or otherwise of Prof Salami.
