Tragic: Medical doctor drowns in Ebonyi Hotel pool

A medical house officer doing his housemanship with Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, ThankGod Odo, has reportedly drowned in a swimming pool in a popular hotel in the state’s capital city.

The deceased hailed from Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi state, and had gone to the hotel to swim with his friends on Thursday..

Odo, it was gathered, swims very well and even taught people how to swim.



He was teaching his friends that same day when he suddenly got drowned, even as the deceased was to round up his housemanship few days before his death.

Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the hospital, Dr. Ewa Richard, confirmed the ugly incident.

He said Odo was doing his one year housemanship with the hospital and was due for graduation for his National Youth service Corps.

He said: “Dr. ThankGod is one of the house officers dedicated and hardworking. Most of them will finish on the 12th that is tomorrow and am sure he would have been among those finishing today, or tomorrow because they have started signing off to move on to the next level which is national service.

”If he had finished that one year today or tomorrow he would have seized to be a staff as we have signed him off. “We don’t have information of what killed him but what we heard was that he went for an outing with his friends in one of the hotels in town and was swimming with other people and the next thing he was drowning and eventually they brought him to the hospital but by the time they reached the hospital he was already dead. His body has been deposited in the mortuary.”

A consultant in AE-FUTHA who doesn’t want his name on print, said: ” I don’t know how to describe this ugly incident. Odo knew how to swim and even taught people how to swim. How could he just die in a swimming pool where he wasn’t swimming alone but with others too. This is terrible”.

Police spokesperson in Ebonyi State, Loveth Odah confirmed the incident.

She said the deceased was confirmed dead in the hospital.

“The DPO B division reported that on 10th December by 5 pm, there was a distress call from a hotel that a doctor has got himself drawned in a swimming pool and he rushed there and the doctor was brought out but unfortunately getting to the hospital a fellow doctor on duty confirmed him dead.

“Nevertheless the commissioner of police have ordered a full investigation to unveil what warranted the death.

“No arrest have been made, for now it is recorded as a case of sudden unnatural death (SUD) but we are not relying on that, police is investigating the matter”.

When contacted the owner of the Hotels, Mr Monday Okay claimed the deceased did not die within his hotels premises but in the hospital.

“The accident did not happen in my place because the guy did not die in my hotel. He passed away in the hospital. Though I was not there to give the exact information of what happened, unless you will go to the hotel to do your investigation or watch the CCTV to get the informations you need,” he said.

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