Tobias Sylvester
Two patients are currently on the run after testing positive to coronavirus (COVID-19) at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Borno State.
The fleeing patients include a 24-year-old man, Abbas Kaka Hassan, from Layin Tanki in Gwange 11, and a 42-year-old woman, Hauwa Mohammed, who lives in Shuwari ward.
Commissioner of Health, Dr. Salisu Kwayabura, announced this at a daily media briefing held on Sunday at the state government house.
He said Abbas, after collecting his result, eloped and switched off his phone. He also switched off the phone his mother used to communicate with the COVID-19 team.
“The male patient at first responded to a phone call from the team after his sample was collected but switched off his phone when he learnt he tested positive.
“When samples of patients with contacts to index cases are collected, they are normally advised to go on self-isolation.
“They give their contacts so they can be reached when the results are out. This is the standard medical procedure.
“You can’t detain someone with suspected contact. We do not have the lawful powers to do that. Other patients were also allowed to leave but they came into isolation centres and we have 19 of them in two isolation centres.
“However, the young man in question chose to go into hiding,” Kwaya-Bura said.
Kwaya-bura assured that officials were working very hard to track the patient. He also called on anyone who tested positive for the coronavirus not to see it as a death sentence.
