COVID-19: 70-Year-Old Woman Blames Kano Govt, NCDC’s Negligence For Death Of Son-in-law

A 70-year-old woman in Abuja, Salma Ahmed, has blamed alleged negligence of the Kano State government and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for the death of her son-in-law.

Ahmed said her son-in-law had presented symptoms of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and was first admitted to the International Clinics and Hospital, Kano, and was referred to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, after one hour of not responding to the oxygen he was placed on.

She said the deceased fell sick on Monday and was diagnosed with typhoid fever but failed to respond to treatment after taking the drugs he was given.

The woman, who spoke in a recorded audio broadcast, said efforts to get help yielded no result as the Kano NCDC was not picking its calls.

Ahmed said she also made efforts to get help from the NCDC in Abuja, but said the agency kept tossing her around before later opening up that their Kano branch had been shut down.

“When I called the ones in Abuja (NCDC) they said they would get back to me, that they would call the Kano branch and tell them what is happening,” she said.

Ahmed said when her son-in-law was transferred to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, she called the Abuja NCDC again for update on steps being taken to help her son-in-law.

“On getting to the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, they put him on oxygen again. I called the NCDC in Abuja to ask them how far, if the officials have started going,” adding that the agency said their officials would go there.

“Every 30 minutes I was calling the NCDC in Abuja, because the ones in Kano were not responding and they kept telling me that they would soon go there.

“When the thing was getting out of hand, I called them again to tell me the truth on what was happening, before they now told me that the NCDC in Kano had been shut down.”

The woman said the NCDC official in Abuja apologised after she flayed him for playing on her intelligence.

She said she was left with no choice than to go on live radio to seek help.

“I was live on RayPower around 4 o’clock (on Friday). I explained my complaint to them that my son-in-law died after two hours of admission at the hospital.

Ahmed added that, “I’m holding the Kano State Government and the NCDC in Kano responsible for the death of my son-in-law.

“And what is paining me most now that my heart is broken is…What will happen to my daughter and grandchildren when there is no NCDC in Kano,” she said.

Ahmed further appealed to the federal government and specifically to the FCT Minister to come to her aid by deploying officials to test her daughter and grandchildren for COVID-19 and determine the state of their health.