News

Coronavirus: Italian man attempts escape, after suffering mosquito bites, heat

Published

4 years ago

February 29, 2020

Irked by the alleged poor condition of the isolation room given to him, the forty-four (44) year-old Italian man, yesterday threatened to escape the centre.

The isolation centre located at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, was said to have been in a poor condition.

Disclosing this, a health worker at the hospital who spoke to Punch, said the patient was angry and had attempted to escape the centre.

The anonymous health worker, who decried the ‘very poor quality’ of the isolation centre, said “The patient wanted to run away yesterday (Thursday). The Italian man, who seems to be an engineer, was very angry that the room where he was kept was very hot.

“There is nothing there (inside the isolation ward) aside from bed and hospital locker. He almost ran away and is still threatening to do that.

He also revealed that the isolation area was a room in one of the wards, and that it was quickly vacated to accommodate the index case.

“The only thing demarcating the room from other rooms in the ward is a red and white barricade tape. That is where the Italian man that tested positive to coronavirus is kept.

“There is no single equipment inside that place. It is just like any other regular hospital room with a bed. That building you see that is being repainted is the original place meant to quarantine coronavirus patients.

“As you can see, the place is not ready. The state government is just renovating it, despite the fact that the virus started spreading since December 2019. It is really sad that a country like Nigeria is never ready to medically contain infectious disease outbreak.

“This is why most health workers leave, because they are predisposed to danger of infection.”