A 15-year-old pregnant woman on admission at the Ikorodu General Hospital, Lagos, has died from health complications similar to coronavirus symptoms.
It was learnt that the teenager was unconscious and had difficulty in breathing before she died on Thursday.
A health worker at the hospital told Saturday PUNCH that the National Centre for Disease Control was contacted on Tuesday to carry out test on the late girl and another sick nursing mother admitted at the facility but yet to come as of Thursday.
The worker, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said, “We have two suspected COVID-19 cases at the hospital. The NCDC was called on Tuesday but its officials have not come to test the patients. One of them was a 15-year-old pregnant girl who died yesterday (Thursday). She was unconscious, very hot and could not breathe well.
“The other woman was just delivered of a baby. She has fever and looks very weak. She is also coughing.”
Another source at the hospital, who confirmed the two cases, lamented slow response by the NCDC.
The source stated, “The girl was admitted at Maternal and Child Care Centre. It was during the screening that it was discovered she was pregnant. Three days after the NCDC was contacted, they have not come as of Friday morning. The girl died on Thursday.
“Another nursing mother is also showing COVID-19 symptoms and we are expecting the NCDC to come and test her. Testing is a problem now. NCDC officials don’t come on time when they are invited.”
The official added, “We are also not getting enough quality PPEs. Everybody is resorting to self-help now. I had to buy a face shield to protect myself at work.”
The Managing Director of the hospital, Dr Taiwo Hassan, who confirmed the death of the pregnant girl, said she was referred from a private hospital, where he spent about four days before she was brought in unconscious on Tuesday.
He said, “She was having high fever, passing watery stool and had severe body aches. COVID-19 is one of the suspected causes. We took her in and did all we were supposed to do to manage her. We called representatives of the NCDC and they promised to come on Wednesday to take the samples.
“Unfortunately, they could not come. She died yesterday (Thursday) without (NCDC) taking the sample. Autopsy has not been done so we cannot say this is what killed her. The autopsy will show the cause of death. As for the nursing mother case, I don’t think it is with us.’’
Hassan stated that there was no issue about shortage of PPEs, noting that the “PPEs are readily available at the hospital.’’
The NCDC Head of Prevention Programmes and Knowledge Management Department, Dr Chinwe Ochu, stated that it was not the responsibility of the agency to provide individual patient care.
He said, “In line with our mandate as the national public health institute, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control focuses on population health and does not provide individual patient care. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, NCDC works closely with states who lead the response to COVID-19 at sub-national levels which includes clinical management of cases.
“When suspected cases of COVID-19 are reported to us, we inform the state public health teams who then make necessary arrangements for sample collection and onward isolation if confirmed positive.”
‘We left our daughters alive but returned to meet their corpses –Lagos couple who lost their only two kids in building collapse
The parents of the two children; Chiamaka and Kareen, who died during Wednesday’s building collapse in Lagos State, have yet to come to terms with the loss.
The building located at Gafari Balogun Street in Ogudu was said to have collapsed by heavy rainfall due to the mudslide at the rear.
The parents who spoke to City Roundexpressed grief while they kept saying “We are devastated” amid tears.
The father identified only as Godwin narrated that he and his wife were out of the house when the event occurred. He said he went to Ajah area for work, while his wife left the house later.
Godwin told our correspondent that the three hours he spent on his way from Ajah to their house in Ogudu was the toughest of his life as he couldn’t wait to get to the scene.
He said his first response was to pray that the event should be untrue.
Godwin added, “I was at Ajah when I received a call around noon. I went there for something earlier in the day. My wife was also not around when the incident happened. She had left the house about 1 hour 30 minutes before the building collapsed. She went to Ojota to attend to some things. She returned home to learn of what had happened. What we learnt was that when the hill fell on the building, it touched our apartment and the wall fell on my girls who were alone at home.
“It took me three hours to get to our house in Ogudu from Ajah but the three hours was like three years. I couldn’t believe that my life was going to be shattered in the twinkling of an eye. I lost everything just within a few hours.”
He added, “Where do I start from? I won’t speak evil but this is a tough one for me. My children are gone! We lost everything. We left our children in the house hale and hearty only to meet their remains. I am devastated by the event.”
The children’s mother, referred to as mama Chiamaka, could barely speak as she sat quietly beside her husband.
She said, “I can’t really say much or what do you expect a mother who lost her only two children in a day to say? I was at Ojota when I was called on the phone that my children were dead. I didn’t even spend two hours there. If not for the rain, I would have returned earlier. My world has crumbled.
“My two girls, they didn’t come easily. The first child Chiamaka was seven years old while Kareen, the younger sister, was a year and eight months.’’
“My babies are gone, my babies are gone!” she wailed. It was learnt that the remains of the children were still at the mortuary at the time of filing this report.
