Popular investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo has accused an Indian-owned Lagos hospital of exposing its staff and the public to risk of coronavirus through its unprofessionalism.
He made the accusation in a series of tweets on Sunday evening.
Soyombo tweeted, “There is a hospital on a popular street off Adeola Odeku, Victoria Island, where the unprofessionalism of the Indian owner could potentially expose staff & the public to #CoronaVirusNigeria.
“Yesterday, this hospital admitted two Indians who’re exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. One is highly symptomatic, the other mildly so. Although their sputum samples were taken, the mgt refused to send them for COVID-19 testing on the argument that they did not contain blood.
“Meanwhile, all the doctors I’ve spoken with confirmed that the procedure, in the case of COVID-19 suspicion based on symptoms, is to send such patients to an isolation centre where they will be tested and kept for at least 14 days if negative, before discharge.
“This is not the 1st case by this Indian hospital owner. A fellow Indian who travelled to Nigeria on March 17 was briefly treated (& discharged) at the hospital as an outpatient after exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. He eventually died without confirmation if it was COVID or not.
“Keeping these two latest Indians at this private hospital without sending them to isolation is detrimental to staff and the public. I’m giving this hospital a 48-hour grace to transfer this patient to Lagos’s isolation centre. If this doesn’t happen by Tuesday afternoon, I’ll have no choice but to NAME them.
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“On behalf of Nigerians, I’m imploring the rich & powerful amidst us to please help the govt by complying with instructions on how suspected COVID-19 cases should be dealt with. No hide&seek, pls. The lives of all of us are at stake.”
In follow-up tweets on Monday morning, Soyombo said that the Director-General, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Tunde Irukera has vowed to wade into the matter.
Soyombo wrote, I’m happy to inform you that the Indian-owned hospital I tweeted about yesterday has discharged the two Indian patients with symptoms suspected to be COVID-19-related. However, their sputum samples were not retaken and they weren’t sent to the @NCDCgov either.
“@TundeIrukera, the DG of the @fccpcnigeria, has indicated interest in taking up the case, with a promise to pass it on to the highest levels in Lagos and to have his people support them.
“This means the patients will eventually be linked up with the NCDC for testing; their true COVID-19 statuses will be established in the end. All of you who retweeted the initial post, you made it happen!”