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COVID-19: Eight OOUTH Laboratory Workers Test Positive

The management of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) has confirmed that eight of its laboratory workers have tested positive for COVID-19.

Chief Medical Director of the teaching hospital, Dr Peter Adefuye, who confirmed this, denied reports that 20 workers had tested positive for the virus.

Dr Adefuye blamed initial reports on people bent on denting the image of the present administration in Ogun State and the efforts of the hospital to manage the pandemic.

More than eight of the laboratory workers had voluntarily had the test but only eight tested positive for the virus.

All those who tested positive are asymptomatic and they have been asked to self-isolate in line with the World Health Organisation and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines, according to Dr Adefuye.

“It is no news that doctors, nurses or any form of health officials have tested positive across the country and globally respectively, but playing cards with human health in this respect is uncalled for,” he said

Adefuye commended the state government for its commitment to the fight against COVID-19, adding that had been making Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and all necessary things available to the hospital without leaving any stone unturned.

Although there continue to be concerned about the spread of COVID-19 and safety, Dr Adefue ruled out the possibility of the hospital shutting down on account of the pandemic.

“Soldiers cannot for the sake of war refuse to go to battle. The same is applicable to health workers. This is the reason we are called heroes as life savers,” he said.

“After all, health workers understand that they do not wear anything more than PPE to attend to HIV/AIDS patients. So, why should some people in some quarters use this to embarrass the government and management of the hospital?”

The CMD called on the media practitioners and general public to explore only official means to source for information and shun hearsay which, according to him, is capable of sensationalising sensitive issues in the name of political gains.