One of the patients receiving
medical care for Monkeypox at the quarantine centre in Bayelsa State has
committed suicide. The State Commissioner for Health, Professor
Ebitimitula Etebu, told journalists in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital on
Monday that the patient was among 21 persons suspected to have been
infected with the viral disease.
They were being managed at the Niger Delta
University Teaching Hospital. Professor Etebu said it was unfortunate that the
patient took his own life despite speedily recovering from the disease. he,
however, declined to provide details of how the patient committed suicide.
The health commissioner, who explained that the
patient’s medical history did not suggest any mental illness or features of
depression which could have explained why he committed suicide, stressed that
the patient did not die from the disease. To identify what led the patient to
take his life, the commissioner said a committee had been put in place to
evaluate his past and recent clinical and social history to determine “if there
were undisclosed mental illness or personal family problem that could have
justified the suicide”.
He added that the police and his family have been
duly informed and all due diligence is being followed for the safe burial and
sympathized with the family over their loss. The commissioner confirmed the
outbreak of Monkeypox in the state, saying laboratory evidence had confirmed the
earlier suspicion of the disease.
He, however, assured the general public again
that the government is doing everything to contain the outbreak and ensure all
patients receive appropriate care and treatment. The Commissioner for
Information, Daniel Iworiso-Markson on his part urged residents to continue to
use preventive measures and ensure they avoid bushmeat and other causes of the
disease.
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