Doctors, nurses quarantined as Borno health worker dies after ‘displaying COVID-19 symptoms’

Some doctors and nurses at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Borno state are currently under quarantine.

This is as a result of the death of one  Babangida Buba, a retired nurse who reportedly passed on after displaying symptoms of COVID-19.

The deceased, who joined a humanitarian organisation after retirement, was said to have been admitted to the hospital two days ago.

A nurse, who did not disclose her identity, said she and some of her colleagues had raised the alarm that the late health worker should be moved to the intensive care unit of the hospital but they were ignored.

“He died Friday morning in our hands this morning. We are the once that dressed his corpse… we were all quarantined after we returned from our homes early this morning. They said they must conduct test on all of us before we go home,” she said in an audio obtained by TheCable.

Another health worker said not all measures were put in place while attending to the patient, adding that there could be crisis if the result of the test is COVID-19 positive.

The health worker said it is possible that those on duty when the deceased was admitted were not at alert because he had been managed at the hospital before.

“The late nurse had a case of pneumonia and he had been admitted to the hospital before. I guess that was why they were not on high alert; they felt he had not travelled out of the country recently and he might have not contacted an infected persons, since he was brought in from a rural area, ” the health worker said.

He added that the result of the test would clear all doubts on the nature of the death of Buba. There are reports that one of the sons of Buba is currently displaying symptoms of COVID-19. TheCable could not independently verify this at the time this report was filed.

Umar Kadafur, deputy governor of Borno, said it is too early to state the cause of the death of the late health worker.

“You are supposed to run a test and their is a lot of process involved. So, if you are not a member of the COVID-19 team, you cannot preempt a result without official confirmation,” he told reporters earlier on Friday.

“What we are saying now is that we have a patient who has passed away and that patient has been tested but the result sent to NCDC for official confirmation. It is the Nigeria Center for Disease Control that has been mandated to make a statement on that. But as a committee, we are working and reviewing things. So for now, I can assure you that if there is anything from the NCDC, we will make it public.”