Doctors Self-Isolate
The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan Oyo State, has announced the suspension of its key services to curtail the spread of the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak. The suspension of consultation services to regular outpatients was announced by the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital, Jesse Otegbayo, on Wednesday.
The units affected are outpatients clinics, medicine and surgery and paediatric departments. However, other departments in the hospital will also stop rendering services till further notice. The CMD said the action became necessary due to the “accidental exposure of some doctors in the institution to some suspected Covid-19 patients”.
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The suspension of these services implies that scores of people who regularly access medical treatment from the institution will no longer have access to care until further notice. This would affect not just the state or the South-West, but patients from all over the country, as the teaching hospital, which was established in 1957, is a major health facility in the country.
According to the CMD, some doctors in the hospital who were suspected to have been exposed to the virus are currently on self-isolation. He, however, did not state the number of doctors affected.
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“We don’t have to wait till we start seeing positive ones before we take appropriate actions. As the CMD, I have the sole responsibility to take care of and protect our staff from unnecessary infection and I just want to be proactive.
“As you are aware, the number of cases that are testing positive to COVID-19 is increasing and personally, I believe in prevention rather than all these curative approaches. Some countries have been able to reduce the number of cases because they locked down early.
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“Initially, we thought we should leave the outpatient department open but we realise that continuing to do that in the absence of enough materials to protect all our staff including our doctors, nurses and health attendants is not the best option, and the best option will be to lock this place down,” he explained.
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