James Sowole in Akure
A few months after the deadly Lassa Fever was contained in Ondo State, the disease has allegedly killed one health officer at the Kidney Care Centre, Medical Village, Ondo town, Ondo State.
The deceased, who was identified as Rasheedat Mohammed, was said to be a laboratory attendant at the hospital and reportedly died last Saturday after allegedly being diagnosed of Lassa Fever.
The alleged death of the health worker had been causing concerns among his colleagues who accused the management of not taking appropriate steps.
However, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, said there was no more cases of Lassa Fever in the state.
Adegbenro, who confirmed the death of the medical worker in the hospital, said the deceased died of complication of liver problem and not Lassa Fever.
“It is not correct, we have not got any new case in Ondo State. It is true that somebody, who was a member of staff of the hospital, died of liver problem that led to some complication. Though her blood sample had been taken Lagos to rule out all things but the clinical evidence did not support Lassa Fever. We are expecting the result on Wednesday,” Adegbenro said.
A source said that the late laboratory attendant was infected with the disease in Port Harcourt, where she went to visit a relative who had earlier been infected, who was said to have died.
The development has created panic among workers of the hospital who said that the hospital management was aware of the suspected case of Lassa Fever in the hospital.
The workers stated that the case was specifically reported to the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Dr. Akinwumi Akinbodewa.
“We don’t know what to do, one of us had been killed by Lassa Fever, we have appealed to the management to conduct a medical test for us but the CMD did not want us to cry out because of the image of the hospital and the state but our own life is at risk now.
“We expected the hospital to have taken our blood sample to Irrua Specialist Hospital to check whether any one of us have been infected or not but they have done nothing about it,” worker said.
