Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye has said that the 20 year-old boy diagnosed with Lassa Fever in the state had been discharged from the isolation centre at Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Idi-Aba, Abeokuta.
Ipaye, who revealed this while addressing newsmen at the centre in Abeokuta, stated that the boy was brought in to the state hospital, Ijaye and was transferred to the isolation centre at FMC, Idi- Aba.
He disclosed that the boy, was brought to centre with complications, had 20 percent chances of survival because he had serious renal complication which could have led to his death.
According to him, “Having being successfully treated and fully recovered from the disease, with results of the last two test carried out, indicating negative, the boy was free to go home and join his family members.”
He, however, stressed the need for the continuous monitoring of the 106 currently being quarantined as a result of the contact they had, saying that state department of public health would continue to monitor and guide against any further development.
He assured the residents of the state to remain calm as Lassa fever was a curable disease, noting that when the last contact certified free from any forms of fevers it would later get back to the public and declare Ogun State Lassa fever free.
Ipaye appreciated the management of the FMC and its team leader in charge of the isolation centre for the success recorded in rescuing the index, noting that the centre had been serving the residents of the state in fulfilment of the primary reason it was established by the Federal government.
“Am keep saying that there is no federal government in anywhere, when we have federal institutions in anywhere it’s primary objective is to take care of the inhabitants of that state, so we will continue to collaborate with this centre so as to provided needed support for the centre as whole,” Ipaye affirmed.
In the same vein, the Chief Medical Director of the centre, Prof. Adewale Musa, affirmed that the index was in critical condition when was first brought to the FMC, Idi-Aba, with many complications including renal injury, but now the boy had been recuperated from Lassa fever and free to go home.
He urged the residents of the state to take their health as a matter of priority and urgency, noting that if not God’s intervention the boy wound not survive the case, “but we thank God almighty that he had survived his case of Lassa fever amidst mere speculation that the boy had died of the lassa fever”, Prof. Musa said.
He hailed the state government’s support and it’s intervention for providing moral, physical and logistics support in rescuing the index from the deadly disease and admonished the state government to persuade the federal government to upgrading the centre into University Teaching Hospital.