13th August, 2014
Kazeem Ugbodaga & Paul Iyoghojie
There was pandemonium on Tuesday at the Orile-Agege General Hospital, Agege area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria, when a patient presented with the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, was brought to the hospital.
It was gathered that the patient, who was brought into the hospital in the morning, was bleeding all over his body and health workers such as nurses, doctors and other patients in the hospital fled from him.
It was gathered that the patient had come to the hospital last week complaining of fever, but that he later re-appeared on Tuesday with blood coming out from his body.
Everybody in the hospital fled from the patient in order not to contract the deadly Ebola Virus.
A health official, who craved anonymity, told P.M.NEWS that the case was reported at the hospital on Tuesday.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the authorities of the Orile-Agege General Hospital informed the Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital about the patient, saying they did not have the wherewithal to handle the case.
It was learnt that the Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital declined and called the State Ministry of Health officials who ordered that nobody should touch the patient as government was coming to pick him up.
Officials of the Lagos State Government, it was gathered, picked up the patient and the man who brought him to the hospital and took them away to be tested if the case was actually an Ebola one.
Effort to get the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris to confirm the report proved abortive as his Public Relations Officer, Bosun Ogunbamwo, said he had gone to Abuja.
Also, there was panic Tuesday evening on Lagos Island, western Nigeria, when a middle aged woman identified as Ada, slumped at CMS bus stop.
After the woman who sells newspapers suddenly collapsed on the road, people started running away from her thinking that she was a victim of Ebola virus.
The incident, according to eyewitnesses occurred at about 6p.m. The woman was trekking along the road on Odulami. Steet and suddenly collapsed on the major road.
The eyewitnesses said because of the Ebola scare, people refused to go near her to render assistance until people who knew her, including some newspaper vendors, arrived the scene to identify the woman as Ada.
They dispelled the insinuations that she was a victim of Ebola virus.
Following the information,sympathisers started buying scahet water and puring it on her body. She however did not regain consciosness, but was seen breathing faintly on the ground
The incident attracted a huge crowd who stormd the scene to catch a glimse of the woman.
Speaking.with P.M.NEWS at.the scene of incident on condition of anonymity, a man who claimed to.be a newspaper vendor and knew the woman as a vendor, said the woman habitually drank local gin called ogogoro, and each.time she drank it in excess she would collapse and sleep on the spot for at least three to four hours before she would regain her consciousness.
“We have been talking to her to stop drinking the illicit gin, but she would not listen,” he said. The woman was yet to regained consciosness at about 7.30 p.m. when our reporter left the scene.