The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has sacked a government driver who attended to a suspected COVID-19 patient “in an unprofessional manner”.

The patient was evacuated with a COVID-19 ambulance in Ilorin, the state capital.
In a viral video obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, the driver was seen evacuating a suspected COVID-19 patient with the help of some persons.

None of those who appeared in the clip wore any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the handling of infectious diseases.
Nigerians on social media condemned the action of the ‘response team’.

However, Mr AbdulRazaq in a statement signed by his chief press secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, ordered the sack of the driver.

He also directed the issuance of queries to top officials of the state ministry of health “for failing to act with necessary caution and expertise in the handling of the incident.”

“The governor totally condemns the shoddy handling of the gentleman who was clearly going through a hard time,” the official said. “He has directed that the driver be fired immediately. As the investigation revealed, the driver failed to heed clear directive not to take any action until the Rapid Response Team (RRT) arrives the scene. He evacuated the gentleman with the help of members of the public without waiting for the arrival of the RRT.”

The governor directed that members of the RRT be queried, “while other steps are being taken to ensure this incident does not repeat itself”.

According to him, “involving just anybody in the evacuation of a suspected case, as was seen in the footage, was a clear and dangerous violation of COVID-19 safety protocols.”

“The government equally finds it quite distasteful and unacceptable that the driver, who had long been involved in such operations, made unethical comments to somebody in distress.
“That incident was avoidable, and we sincerely apologise to the gentleman and to the people of Kwara State for the embarrassing development. We assure them this will not happen again,” Mr Ajakaye stated.