SAN FRANCISCO, October 16, (THEWILL) – A Monkeypox patient in Bayelsa State has committed suicide at the isolation facility located at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, NDUTH, where he was due for discharge after an evaluation test at the weekend.
The deceased, whose name was not given but was among the 21 patients being treated at the NDUTH, hung himself early on Monday.
The ugly incident was confirmed to reporters by commissioners for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson and Health, Prof. Ebitimitula Etebu, with the Chief Medical Director, NDUTH, Prof. Dimie Ogoina and other senior health officials.
The Health commissioner regretted that the patient took his own life despite speedily recovering from the disease, adding that the patient’s medical history did not suggest any mental illness or depression.
While insisting that the patient did not die of Monkeypox, he disclosed that the police and his family had been contacted and all due diligence was being followed for the funeral of the deceased.
Etebu, who urged Bayelsans to remain calm as the Monkeypox virus was being tackled by the state government, 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 illnesses or personal family problem that could have justified the suicide”.
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