The management of County Hospital, Ogba, Lagos, says its facility has not been infected with the COVID-19 pandemic as being speculated in the social media.
The Supervising Personnel, Dr Patrick Osimi,said on Tuesday in Lagos that the story, which was firstly circulated on an unknown twitter handle, that the facility was infected with the virus was “entirely untrue”.
A story purportedly listing County Hospital, among other private hospitals in Lagos, as one of the facility infected with COVID-19, had been trending online.
Osimi said the news read that the facility was one of the hospitals listed in Lagos that had suspended operations due to COVID-19 exposure.
He quoted the online report saying, “Consequently, all staff and/or family members who may have visited the hospital or staff who may have been in contact with anyone who visited the above-listed hospital between April 10 and April 19 are required to immediately call.”
However a visit by a NAN Correspondent to the County Hospital on Tuesday confirmed that the facility was still operating and running normal medical services, as some patients were seen being attended to.
Osimi further told NAN that the hospital had not received nor treated any COVID-19 patient, saying that such report was entirely untrue.
“We are opening and did not receive any COVID-19 patient, none has visited our hospital, so I don’t know where such news is coming from.
“As you can see we are opening and treating our patients. We got a wind of the story on the twitter and its trending which also got us worried.
“We have received so many calls on this issue and douse the tension. We are taking steps to address the issues because our HMO has called to know the situation of things.
“We want the people to know that such incident has not happened here and at the appropriate time, we will also state our claims,” he said.
When contacted, the Director of Public Affairs, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Mr Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, said that any information about such development could be verified on the twitter handle of the ministry.
Reacting, St Nicholas Hospital, one of the facility listed confirmed the status of the hospital in a statement by the Clinical Director, Dr Ebun Bamgboye.
Bamgboye said: “This is to inform you of the suspension of our services in St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos Island Branch, for a period of two weeks.
“This decision is as a result of exposure to COVID-19. We have contacted the NCDC, and as at April 18, our facility had been decontaminated by the Lagos State Government.
“The safety of all our staff and patients is of paramount importance to us.
“As such, we are complying with the directive of the HEFAMAA to suspend our services for two weeks. (Saturday April 18 to May 2, 2020)
“We understand the critical needs of our patients, hence, we have introduced our telemedicine services where patients can consult our doctors via video and audio channels by calling.
“Our Victoria Island branch still remain open, he said in the statement.
Also, Vedic Lifecare Hospital, in a statement by the management, admitted the news about the COVID-19 infection.
“Approximately, 10 days ago, we had admitted a patient, who later tested for COVID-19, after he was discharged. We also have two staff who tested positive yesterday (Sunday) evening.
“The patient and our staff are now being managed by NCDC at their isolation centre. Till this moment they do not show any symptoms.
“All staff have been maintaining mandatory PPE gear since the last 25 days.
“The facility is currently closed for decontamination of the building. The fumigation was already carried out by NCDC on April 18.
“We are currently testing the remaining staff and will continue to update everyone on this platform.
“If you have visited the hospital in the last 10 days, we request you to get tested and stay isolated,” the statement said.
