COVID-19 Patients Protest Hunger On Gombe Streets

There was a protest on Tuesday at the Federal Teaching Hospital in Gombe by some COVID-19 patients.

The patients, under seclusion, allegedly destroyed some equipment in their ward while protesting what they called poor treatment.

It was learnt that officials at the referral hospital later pacified the patients with a promise of improved welfare.

Simultaneously, other patients at Kwadon Isolation Centre in Yamaltu Deba Local Government Area of the state took to the streets to protest similar treatment.

They were said to have blocked the Gombe/Biu road, chanting anti-government songs.

In a video that went viral, one of the patients was heard saying he had been abandoned since officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) dropped him in the hospital three days ago.

He said he had not been given drugs and was left to fend for himself alongside other patients in the hospital.

Another patient said he was given only vitamin C drug since he got to the centre earlier in the week.

In another video, a female patient complained about the environment she was kept in.

Speaking in Hausa, she said: “Look at this place, this is the hospital where they kept us. They said we have coronavirus. Look at us? Do we look sick? Do you see any sign of sickness in us? Look at us very well and see!” she spoke in Hausa.

“If this thing (coronavirus) is created by some people for world material things, they will face the judgment of God. In this holy month of Ramadan, they brought us to this kind of place.

“We that are fasting and those that are not fasting are fed at the same time. It is about 5:00pm and they are just serving us launch. This is not fair! They are infringing on our rights.”