They refused to tell us she was sick, says guardian of deceased Queen’s College orphan

Lawrence Otun, the guardian of Praise Sodipo, a victim of Queen’s College diarrhoea outbreak, says the school failed to inform his family when she fell ill.

Sodipo was buried on Thursday at Atan Cemetery, Yaba, Lagos.

The orphaned pupil had been admitted to the intensive care unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). She died last week Friday.

The diarrhoea outbreak led to the admission of 16 pupils in various hospitals while two junior secondary school students had died.

Otun said Sodipo lost both parents at the age of eight and that she was the only pupil to be admitted on merit from Osun state into Queen’s College.

He told PUNCH that his wife discovered she was terribly ill while picking up Sodipo from school for the midterm break.

“The sickness started from the school, but they refused to inform us. It was when my wife went to pick her for the midterm break that she discovered that the girl had been terribly sick and was admitted to the sickbay. She took her to a hospital,” he said.

“We were treating malaria when a doctor advised that we do a scan. The scan showed she had liver enlargement. The doctor referred us to Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba. Because it was late, my wife brought her home.

“When I, however, saw how she was breathing, I quickly rushed her to a private hospital around 11pm where she was placed on a drip till the following morning. We were advised to do another scan.

“The new result showed that she had perforated intestine due to chronic typhoid said to have been caused by the contaminated water in the school.”

Meanwhile, Osagie Ehanire, minister of state for health, says the school will remain closed until further notice.

He said the federal government had learned its lesson from the outbreak and will review the situation.

“The lapses which we have identified and which we shall discuss will form part of my report which the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education shall address together,” he said.

“What we have seen so far are remedial activities being undertaken; the repair work is being done by the Old Girls’ Association of the school and the PTA, and I believe by the time all these are done and proper inspections are done, then the school can be reopened.”

According to the Lagos state ministry of health, over 1,222 students of Queen’s College had been treated at the school’s clinic for abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea since the beginning of the year.