Job Osazuwa, Lagos

Barely two weeks after resumption, there is panic at Queen’s College over a supposed disease outbreak, which is said to have affected hundreds of students at the Yaba, Lagos, institution.

A parent of a student in the school, who pleaded anonymity, informed Daily Sun that the reported health crisis might not be unconnected with what was claimed to be the contaminated water reservoir, food and unhygienic toilets in at the prestigious college.

There was an epidemic in the school in 2017, which claimed three the lives of three students as a result of infection.

Parents Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman John-Alfred Ofobike said that no less than 900 students have been withdrawn from the school on health grounds in the last two weeks of resumption. He said that though students were apparently infected, he cannot categorically state what the exact ailment is.

Mr Ofobike said that he was at the school on Sunday and encountered many ill children. He expressed the belief that it was an epidemic due to the increasing number of students that were going home. He said that between 700 and 900 students have been so far withdrawn by their parents.

However, the principal of the girls’ school, Mrs Tokunbo Yukubu-Oyinloye, who spoke with Daily Sun on the telephone, countered the claim.

“We don’t have any outbreak in our school. What is happening to the students is just a normal flu because of the cold weather. Our doctor, Ojo, would have given you the details now, but he is busy with some government officials,” she said.

A parent of one of the students said: “I met many students on the sickbed and many also waiting to see the doctor. This aroused my curiosity as a medical practitioner and a public health specialist. I decided to do some findings.

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“I spoke with the doctor and the matron, interviewed the students on the sickbay and also observed that most of the students who were going home. l want to say this with every sense of responsibility and professionalism that there is no outbreak of any epidemic in Queen’s College.

“Most of the students are presenting with cough, catarrh, fever and body pain. This is an airborne disease and can be transmitted through coughing and sneezing. All parents should calm down because it is not a major medical issue,” the concerned parent said.

The parent pointed out that it was not all students that were going home that were clinically sick, but those who are do so because of past experience and inadequate medical staff and ill-equipped sickbay.

The chief spokesperson for the school, Mr Adewale Adeyanju, corroborated the principal’s submission that a team of health practitioners from the Lagos State Ministry of Health stormed the school on Sunday to carry out on-the-spot assessments. He reiterated that there was no cause for alarm, saying there were less than five students at the sickbay as of Monday.

“There is nothing like disease outbreak. Officials from the Ministry of Health are here as l speak to ascertain what led to the few people that fell ill. It was discovered that some of them had mild fever, which might have started from their homes before resumption.

“Another thing is when one student is given a clearance to go home for any minor illness; other students will start coming forward to also want to go home for similar ailment,” he said.

A parent of a Senior Secondary II student said that his daughter was rushed home on September 28, having been struck with an infection in her private part. He said that he had advised the management of the school to ask the students to vacate the school premises for at least two weeks in to enable proper management of the health crisis, but his advice fell on deaf ears, the parent said.

To complicate matters, Daily Sun learned that the PTA chairman and the principal have been having a running battle that is yet to be resolved.