Redeemed Church Pastor Die At LUTH Over Suspicion Of Ebola

A pastor in one of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) parishes identified as Solomon Olayanju was abandoned and left to die at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) over suspicion he had Ebola Virus Disease, (EVD).

Pastor Olayanju developed high temperature overnight and was taken to a nearby private hospital last Friday where they tried to stabilise him before referring him to LUTH.

On getting to LUTH, he was immediately taken to the spillover ward of the accident and emergency A&E unit which serves as the EVD isolation unit for suspected cases.

According to colleague of the deceased, Pastor Kehinde Bello who spoke to National Mirror, the consultant handling the case, Dr. Akodu refused to attend to the deceased since Monday that he was admitted.

The nurses also refused to take out blood samples and no test was carried out.

He explained: “It was on Wednesday, after the tests carried out confirmed that the young man who died on Tuesday, at the same ward was free from Ebola, that the management realised their mistake.

“It was then that the nurses started attending to him, after we protested and threatened to take him away. But Pastor Olayanju died yesterday morning before any serious medical treatment could be given to him.”

Another colleague of the deceased, Pastor Jacob, described what happened as a simple case of negligence.

When they took the matter to the Chief Medical Director LUTH, Prof. Akin Osibogun, he merely apologised and asked them to make arrangement to carry the corpse.

Some hospitals are still turning down requests from patients to be treated of ailments unrelated to Ebola, because of the fear that their health workers may contract the disease.

It was gathered that more patients are dying in many hospitals due to their inability to access medical care based on the fear that they might have contracted Ebola.

A nurse with the Lagos State Government hospital in Alimosho Local Government Area told THISDAY that patients are usually assessed from the gate and asked to turn back, if they are discovered to have a fever.