The vulcaniser, narrated:
“By
the time I was brought here, I had gone blind. I could not identify my
wife, I could not identify anything. I did not even know when I arrived
here.
But I thank God and the management
and staff of University College Hospital, UCH, for bailing me out. I can
see all of you here clearly. I can even identify the clothes each one
of you is putting on.”
He expressed gratitude to the teaching hospital for its timely medical intervention which he said saved his life.
Meantime, UCH management, yesterday, confirmed that five victims of Ode-Irele methanol poisoning were responding to treatment.
The victims were said to have taken the methanol while consuming a local gin.
Confirming that the toxin was detected in the blood
and urine of the victims, Professor Temitope Alonge, Chief Medical
Director, UCH, said the five victims were transferred to the teaching
hospital on April 18 adding that they had regained their lost sight as a
result of taking the chemical.
Alonge, who said
this while speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, warned people to be wary of
taking local gin so as to avoid s similar unpleasant experience.
According to the CMD, series of tests were carried out on the victims and the samples of the three drinks they took.
The
medical practitioner said: “On April 18, the Consultant Pathologist
with the Ondo State Ministry of Health, Dr. Osasan, called to seek the
assistance of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, in the management
of five patients who survived the Ode-Irele neuro-toxicity saga who
were completely blind.
‘’We agreed to take over
the management of the patients but requested for the samples of the
local gin that were incriminated along the fresh blood and urine samples
of the patients.
‘’I contacted the consultant
neurologist on call, Dr. Steeve Oluwole for a comprehensive evaluation
of the patients because of the clinical presentation of the patients
that had died and the ones that survived since they all pointed to
neurotoxicity.
‘’In addition, the clinical
pharmacologists led by Professor Catherine Falade, the laboratory
scientists and specialists advisers to the hospital, Professor Segun
Ademowo, were all contacted for the biochemical analyses of the blood of
these patients as well as the urine in addition to the three samples of
local gin that was reportedly consumed by the patients.
He
added that all the relevant health personnel worked for almost two
weeks before they detected the likely cause of the neurotoxicity
exemplified by sudden blindness and correlated their findings with the
toxicants in the blood, urine and the local gin samples.
No comments:
Post a Comment