The Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) has said that Gebe Ebong, the health worker with Wuse General Hospital, Abuja who died on April 24, did not die of coronavirus.
The FCT, as of Saturday is the third on the chart of states with several confirmed cases of the disease as 214 have contracted it in Nigeria’s capital.
The FCT Chief Press Secretary, Tony Ogunleye, made the clarification while responding to a question on the cause of the death of the nurse in Abuja.
Ogunleye told journalists in Abuja that Mohammed Kawu, Acting Secretary Health and Human Services Secretariat FCT, confirmed that the nurse did not die of COVID-19. He, however, said that Kawu did not disclose the cause of the death of the nurse who resided in Chika, Airport Road, Abuja.
NAN reports that senior staff of the FCT who preferred anonymity had earlier in a text message said: “the health care worker was a nurse, not a doctor, working with Wuse District Hospital.
“He died of unknown cause. His body has been evacuated by the health department after samples were taken for testing.”
“His house was subsequently decontaminated.”
A resident who lived very close to him told NAN that the late nurse complained that he was not feeling fine when he came back from work that day. According to him, the deceased later vomited and died at night, adding that the co-tenants invited the police but were directed to call the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
He said that the NCDC officials came kitted with ambulance the following day to carry his corpse and later sprayed the house with chemicals.
The traditional ruler of Chika, Chief Istifanus Shegaju, who corroborated the claim said he was told that late Ebong went to work on that particular day and complained of a headache before leaving office.
According to him, the nurse later died in the night. “The tenants who were apparently scared because of the prevailing condition of COVID -19 in the country called officials of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, FCT, that came to evacuate his body,” he said.
He said that the decontamination of his house and the environment by the NCDC officials possibly heighten the fear of the co-tenants and other residents of the area that the man died of COVID-19.
The traditional ruler said he had, however, calmed the situation, having explained to the residents that the late health care worker did not die of COVID-19.
He said that the report gathered from the authorities stated the sample collected from the late nurse tested COVID-19 negative. The Chief said that he had also urged his people to keep to the safety rule of the pandemic, by staying indoors, keeping social distancing and maintaining personal hygiene among others.
