Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara state says the patient in a recent viral video on social media is not a suspected COVID-19 patient.
AbdulRazaq who cleared the air during a visit to a health facility in Ilorin, however explained that the patient was inappropriately evacuated from his home in Ilorin.
The governor made this known to newsmen at the State’s Isolation Centre at Sobi Specialist Hospital, Ilorin on Friday.
He said a call was placed and an ambulance was dispatched to the place, which is the suspected patient’s home with clear instructions for the ambulance driver to wait for the Response Team to come.
According to him, the victim used to be a tenant in the house and was evicted for failure to pay his rents and decided to reside in his car in front of the same house out of frustration.
The governor explained further that there was animosity between him and his co-tenants, and he (patient) fell ill in the process while living in his car.
“When the ambulance got to the scene, the occupants of the house and members of the community who have reasons to get him out, bundled him into the van in a malicious way.
“The people you see around the ambulance were not members of the team but his neighbours who wanted him out of the environment.
“He was brought here and the result came in from Ede and it returned negative,” the governor said.
AbdulRazaq said the ambulance incident was unfortunate and urged members of the community to work with each other, so that such thing did not reoccur.
The governor noted that the state had learnt from it and that the team must always move together rather than in batches.
The governor was at the isolation centre for training and retraining of the medical personnel handling COVID-19 patients to ensure that all the right protocols are being observed.
Despite the spike in the number of cases in the state, the governor said he is not considering locking down the state for now, but will always follow the Federal Government’s directives.
AbdulRazaq said the cases recorded in the state were mostly patients from Lagos and later from the North Western part of the country.
He thanked the Department of State Security (DSS) and the Police for being proactive in intercepting travelers.
He cited a scenario in which a truck was intercepted with 35 occupants with five of them, according to him, testing positive, while others ended up quarantined at the Hajj camp.
Highlights of the governor’s visit were simulations, and to assessment of the way and manner the medical personnel handling COVID-19 cases are faring.
