The late Dr Emeka Chugbo was not our staff, he attempted to treat a COVID-19 patient in his private hospital – LUTH.
The management of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) has come out to debunk the widespread report of the death a frontline doctor to COVID-19 in the hospital.
It was reported yesterday that one Dr Emeka Chugbo, a frontline doctor treating COVID19 patients in LUTH had died of coronavirus after contracting the disease.
However, newer details which have emerged are saying the said LAGOS doctor secretly attempted treating a COVID-19 patient in his private hospital without reporting to the government and both him and the patient he was treating in his private clinic have died from the disease.
“The deceased, identified as 51-year-old Chugbo Emeka died of coronavirus-related complications which he developed from treating an infected patient in his hospital. A practice against the quarantine act as all positive coronavirus patients are by law supposed to be isolated and treated in a designated government isolation centre”- according to a source in LUTH.
The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the hospital, Prof Wasiu Adeyemo, said the doctor was not a staff of the hospital, but was rushed from a private hospital to the facility after he showed symptoms of the disease.
Adeyemo said: “The doctor is not a LUTH staff; he was a private practitioner, though he trained in LUTH some 18, 20 years ago. I remember I met him, I know him, he left LUTH around 2002.
“One of his classmates called me that he has some issues in his private hospital, so I asked that he should be brought to LUTH. He was COVID-19 positive, we put him on drugs but unfortunately, he died this morning (Wednesday).” he said.
The LUTH CMAC said he would not disclose the name of the doctor and his hospital as it was against the ethics of the medical profession.
While debunking the report by the PUNCH that they lost their staff who was a front line doctor against COVID-19 from their official twitter handle, LUTH tweeted: “The doctor, who died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, was rushed to the facility on Monday after attempting to manage a COVID-19 patient in a private hospital in Lagos.”
Dr. Emeka did his residency in O&G at LUTH and moved to set up a private facility after the program.
