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Family of Monkeypox victim who committed suicide in Bayelsa blasts hospital

Published

7 years ago

October 18, 2017

The identity of the Monkeypox victim who committed suicide in Bayelsa State , has been revealed after his family blasted the hospital the man was in.

According to a new report by The Nation newspaper, the Monkeypox victim who committed suicide at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has been identified as Mr. Perekebina Biu.

Biu was receiving treatment in the isolation ward of the hospital when he reportedly hanged himself with a rope.

It was gathered that the deceased until the incident was the Treasurer of the Agbere Youth body in Sagbama Local Government Area and was married with three children.

His father, it was learnt, hails from Patani in Delta state while his mother is from Agbere community.

Agbere was reportedly recovering from the Monkeypox disease he contracted in Yenagoa before he took his life.

Family sources, who spoke in confidence to The Nation, blasted the management of NDUTH.

They accused the hospital management of negligence wondering how a patient in a quarantine centre could take his life easily without the knowledge of doctors and nurses.

A source said:

“The late victim was in the hospital for treatment. And he was responding to treatment though. But come to think about it, how did it happen?

“The Monkeypox victims were supposed to be in an isolated area. Where were the Doctors, nurses and other staff? Where did he get the rope? The hospital management has a question to answer.”

The deceased, according to family sources had no record of a mental case.

The Bayelsa State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Ebitimitula Etebu, had said the deceased was among the 21 suspected cases of ‘Monkeypox’ that were being managed at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH).

He expressed regret that the patient took his own life despite speedily recovering from the disease.

He sympathised with the family and said that a committee had been put in place to evaluate his past and recent clinical and social history. Adding that the examination would determine “if there were undisclosed mental illness or personal family problem that could have justified the suicide”.