A professor and senior consultant at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Kazeem Salami has been suspended by the management of the University for withholding vital information about a suspected case of COVID-19 in Kwara State.
COVID-19 which is a deadly respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus has infected over a million people globally and caused over 60,000 deaths.
Prior to the presentation of the deceased at the Accident and Emergency unit of the hospital, the federal facility said he had been on self-isolation on arrival to Ilorin “on the advice of the professor who brought him.”
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It said the information of self isolation “was concealed from the frontline medical personnel at first contact in the A&E, an act that the hospital management considered unethical.”
The death of Muhideen Obanimomo, a 57-year-old UK returnee, generated controversies among Kwara residents, particularly in Offa, where he hailed from.
Although the state government earlier denied that it was a COVID-19 related case, the result of the samples taken showed that the wife of the deceased is positive for COVID-19.
The state government announced that it recorded two cases, which were its index cases, on Monday evening.
According to the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, one of the infected persons is the wife of a patient, a UK returnee who died last Thursday, and the other is another UK returnee.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the hospital on Monday evening, David Odaibo, UITH director of administration, said the management approved Mr Salami’s suspension sequel to his conduct in the management of the COVID-19 patient.
“The Management of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital hereby suspends Prof A.K. Salami as a Senior Consultant in the hospital.”
“This is as a result of his unethical conduct in the admission, management and eventual release of the corpse of a suspected COVID-19 patient who died in the hospital on the 3rd of April, 2020,” the statement read in parts.
The suspended professor, who is in his late fifties, specialises in Infectious and non-infectious pulmonary diseases, which strikes out the possibility of being ignorant of the deadly respiratory disease.
Juliet Ekwebelam
