Emma Elekwa, Onitsha
Management of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, Anambra State has refuted a report that the hospital recorded one death of Coronavirus suspect last Sunday.
The Chief Medical Director, Prof. Anthony Igwegbe who disclosed this on Wednesday in Nnewi in a chat with newsmen, described the report as false, saying the hospital had never recorded any single positive case for Covid-19 since the pandemic started let alone death as all tests so far had returned negative.
He said the hospital under the coordination of Anambra State team of epidemiologists and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had been running tests on suspected patients all this while with none of the samples returning positive.
He wondered why a case of death of a Coronavirus victim would be reported on the hospital without verification from the hospital management.
He said, “NAUTH has no case of Covid-19 nor quarantined some Doctors and Nurses at the hospital as contained in the report.
“NCDC has not reported any positive case recorded by the hospital and has not announced any death. It is the duty of the NCDC to make such things public and nothing like that is reported to the agency because we have no case.”
READ ALSO: Document on N5.5bn COVID-19 contract fake, unauthorised – NDDC
According to Igwegbe, a patient was brought to the hospital around midnight at the weekend and died few hours later when a test had not been conducted on him.
He however noted that there was no basis to conclude that the diseased died of Coronavirus since he was only a posthumous suspect.
“The hospital always worked in tandem with the NCDC through the State team of epidemiologists as far as the COVID-19 issue is concerned and never did anything unilaterally.
“The hospital will only engage its trained laboratory scientists to get specimen from a patient where the coordinating team and agency are engaged,” he added.
The CMD further explained that samples to confirm the status of a Coronavirus suspect were always taken to Iruua Specialist Hospital, Edo State, Abakiliki, Ebonyi State or most recently the newly approved testing center at Accunalysis Diagnostic Center, Nnewi.
Leave a Reply