Some workers at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, took to their heels when a patient who was suspected to have been down with Lassa fever was brought to the Medical Emergency Unit of the hospital on Wednesday.According to an attendant at the unit, the middle aged security officer was rushed to the hospital by his colleagues on Wednesday morning after he began bleeding through the nose.

The Punch Newspaper gathered that one of the nurses at the unit with the doctor on duty eventually came to the patient’s aid and later directed that a series of tests be conducted on him before he was admitted into the ward.

A medic at the unit said that they were taking precautions to ensure that they were wearing protective garment before attending to sick patients to prevent any cross-infection should it be Lassa fever.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, in a telephone conversation with one of the correspondents on Wednesday, said that any health worker or doctor found to have rejected sick patients over unfounded claims would be sanctioned.

He insisted that sick patients or those with symptoms of Lassa fever should be taken to LASUTH, as doctors and nurses at the tertiary institution had been trained on how to quickly attend to such infectious diseases.

Adewole said,“ It is an unprofessional behaviour and if we investigate this, we would sanction such health workers. If there is a suspected case of fever, please go to LASUTH, it is a tertiary hospital and they have adequate health professionals to handle many cases. No one should turn a patient away on the basis of a fever.”

Source: The Punch Newsapaper

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