EXCLUSIVE: Lagos University Teaching Hospital Sends Away Man Who Tested Positive For Coronavirus Over Lack Of Bed Space
Benson, who had hoped to be quarantined and treated at LUTH after being tested at the government-owned hospital on March 21, was asked to go back home over lack of bed space to admit him at the facility.




One of these two men is Benson. He refused to identify himself for fear of stigmatisation


A man named Emmanuel Benson, who had close contact with two persons that recently arrived Lagos from the United Kingdom, has been told to go home by medical personnel at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, after testing positive for Coronavirus.

Benson, who had hoped to be quarantined and treated at LUTH after being tested at the government-owned hospital on March 21, was asked to go back home over lack of bed space to admit him at the facility.

SaharaReporters gathered that since the refusal of LUTH to admit Benson, he had returned home and continued his normal life.

“He moved to and from LUTH through public transportation.

“He has been mingling freely with people,” a friend to the young man told SaharaReporters on Thursday.

When contacted by SaharaReporters on Thursday night after his mobile number was supplied to one of our correspondents, Benson indeed confirmed that he tested positive for the virus and was not admitted to LUTH for treatment by medical personnel.

He disclosed that he went for the test after coming in contact with the two UK returnees at a dinner party in Lagos last week.

When asked if money was demanded from him before the test was conducted, Benson refused to open up, instead saying that he does not want unnecessary attention.

While chatting with one of our correspondents on social networking platform, Whatsapp, Benson, who expressed fear of being stigmatised should his story be published, quickly deleted his display photo on his profile.

He was standing with an unidentified person in the photo where both men were wearing tags over their necks.

He said, “I am at home on self-isolation now.

"I had the test at LUTH even though the queue was too long.

“Some of the medical staff I spoke with later advised me to go home and self-isolate.

"They said I should get back to them after 14 days or that in seven days they might call to check my progress.

"I was infected at a dinner party organised for the two men who returned to Nigeria from the UK.

"I went for the test on March 21."

When asked if he had attempted to contact the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control to notify them of his situation and probably seek help, Benson said, “I have called the NCDC lines several times but they are not picking up the call.”

To further give credence to Benson's situation, the NCDC on Thursday night announced 12 new confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Lagos out of the total 14 detected in the country.

Nigeria now has 65 confirmed cases of the virus and one recorded death.

Testing kits for the virus are being used for politicians and their families while ordinary Nigerians with symptoms of the pandemic are being left to their fates.

Till date, less than 200 persons have been tested for the virus in Nigeria despite Lagos alone having a population of over 20 million persons.

An official of the Nigerian Medical Association told SaharaReporters that the number of confirmed cases declared by NCDC was far below the real figure, adding that there were already hundreds of citizens infected with Coronavirus walking and freely mixing up with others thus increasing the risk of a further spread.

I knew there would be a situation when all these will happen.

At this stage, you will now see infected persons--- who kept their status discreet ---flooding the hospitals. It is getting risky now, but let us not blame the FG and also the NCDC. They had been calling on infected persons and also those who have had contact with them to submit themselves, but non came.

Who knows the number of people that are gonna contract the virus today again as a result of disobedience?

That hospital did bad by not threatening or at least re-directing the guy to another hospital.

There is one thing that disgust me about some Nigerians : disobedience of orders by the FG

We ain't prepared to tackle the virus in this country, if we were, then you will not see people disobeying the rules of their respective state governors.


I saw a Mosque yesterday with at most 12 persons in it, which should have been 6( that's if social distancing is practised) , go to some churches on the streets, you will definitely find out the same, enter public buses : the same. They what is the need or use for shutting down markets, schools.... etc?


Well, the truth still remains; we ain't prepared enough to fighting this virus.


Next week shall tell. When people start to flood hospitals, we shall now know whom to be blamed .


Good morning to you all, our slogan still remains:

When Nigeria's coronavirus cases start ehnnn...
the world will forget about Italy and Spain...

This is fake newsss

Onebottle:
This is fake newsss

What is fake about the news?what is it that u don't understand or are u trying to be unreasonable.

If this story is true then Nigeria is in a big trouble.

ghen gen
No i am beginning to wonder if this administration could handle the ebola outbreak.
Ebola is more virulent, caught us unaware and killed a few medics rather too quickly but still, it was suppressed quickly.
Sure covid-19 is more contagious (perhaps) but we had a whole lot of wait days to prepare for this.
So what happened to the aids that has been flying in? millions and billions!
COVID-19 has turned to rocket science ooo
.......TEACH ONLINE AND MY STARTUP WILL DRIVE UP TO 5K USERS TO YOUR COURSE. CHECK MY SIGNATURE

The guy should do us one favour, he should visit the following ASAP;

The senator representing him,
chairman of his LGA,
Councillor of his ward
That would solve the problem for us all

Edmundbill:

What is fake about the news?what is it that u don't understand or are u trying to be unreasonable.

Ya the unreasonable fellow here bro..
You posted a news without source and you want me to blv it
You are unreasonable for that.
Even my 7 year old bro wnt blv this
Seun
Lalasticlala
Mynd44 this is fake news

When will we Nigerians (both government & citizens) start doing something right..?

so fvcking fake.

Greystone:
When Nigeria's coronavirus cases start ehnnn...
the world will forget about Italy and Spain...

Prophet of doom, God will dissapoint you

Mizwisdom:



Prophet of doom, God will dissapoint you

Amen to your prayer but I'm not a prophet of doom.

Our leaders have already disappointed us.

In case u don't know, our health sector is not even close to being prepared.

Even the donations from Jack Ma to help us deal with this crisis are being hoarded.

Onebottle:
Ya the unreasonable fellow here bro..
You posted a news without source and you want me to blv it
You are unreasonable for that.
Even my 7 year old bro wnt blv this
Seun
Lalasticlala
Mynd44 this is fake news

You are funny,i didn't post that but calling it fake without proof is not making sense at all,well u can check fp and see for urself with pictures,maybe u will recieve little sense....John