By Chidi Nkwopara

OWERRI — An ugly dimension has been introduced to the fight against the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, as some hospitals in Imo State are said to be rejecting patients who come in with complaints of fever.

An aggrieved parent, Mr. Marcel (surname withheld), who stormed Vanguard office, yesterday, complained bitterly that some of the hospitals he visited refused to attend to his sick children.
Marcel gave a list of the hospitals he visited, stressing that all of them rejected to attend to the ailing children.

“What type of country is this? Why would our hospitals refuse to attend to patients that present feverish conditions? I do not really know where we are heading to in this country?” Marcel fumed.

Reacting to the incident, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Edward Ihejirika, said: “There is no directive from the state government to that effect. Much as the state government does not control how private hospitals clinics operate, or the type of patients they accept or reject, the administration believes that doctors ought to treat all patients.”
The commissioner, however, recalled that government only advised private medical facilities to promptly report patients with symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, to the appropriate quarters.

“It is wrong for any hospital to reject the sick for whatever reason. Thank you for raising the issue and I would like to assure you that government would set a machinery in motion to probe the matter,” Dr. Ihejirika said.