It is no longer news that coronavirus has claims it’s highest victim yet in Nigeria, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari.
Mallam Kyari was diagnosed for the Coronavirus three weeks ago and died on Friday due to complications from the virus.
Since his burial on Saturday however, revelations have come out regarding the circumstances of his treatment and eventual death from Coronavirus.
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According to a report by the Nation Newspaper, Abba Kyari was hours away from being discharged when his health relapsed.
The late chief of staff died at First Cardiology Consultants Hospital in Lagos where he was being treated amid a heavy presence of security operatives in the environment.
His health had allegedly improved after nearly four weeks of treatment and by Wednesday he was walking around and receiving visitors including family members.
He was to be discharged on Friday when complications centred around his diabetes and respiratory tract infections started.
It was alleged that his treatment at the private facility was neither approved by the Presidential Task Force against COVID-19, nor the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Officials only read his transfer to Lagos in the papers like every other Nigerian.
It was also revealed that Abba Kyari refused to heed to advice from health experts at the NCDC as his family was confident that he would be back home on Friday when he died.
According to a family source:
“As at Wednesday, Kyari was seen walking round his isolation area when some members of his family came on a visit. His health improvement gave a ray of hope that he was fast recovering.
“In fact, words had gone round to his relations that he might be discharged on Friday. But he died following relapse, occasioned by diabetes and respiratory tract infections in the evening of Friday. How his condition changed for the worse shocked all the medics around him. He died between 9pm and 10 pm.
“So, he died of COVID-19 and underlying factors or complications.”
The Lagos State Government also confirmed that the late chief of Staff died of complications from Coronavirus.
This was confirmed in a statement by the state commissioner for health, Akin Abayomi who also said the facility in which Abba Kyari died was fit to treat Coronavirus cases.
“Following enquiries on the passing away of the Chief of Staff to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mallam Abba Kyari on Friday 17th April 2020, the Lagos State Government states that:
“Mallam Abba Kyari died from complications of Coronavirus infection at First Cardiology Consultants in Lagos. This hospital is a Lagos State designated high care, biosecurity-compliant, COVID-19 facility, accredited by the Health Facility Management and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) of the Lagos State Ministry of Health.
“As a basis for accreditation, First Cardiology Consultants established a separate specialist wing with staff dedicated to the treatment of complicated cases of COVID-19, under the supervision of the Lagos State COVID-19 emergency response team.”