… family members express worry over runaway patients’ safety
Palpable fears have gripped some residents of Akure following the escape of no fewer than nine psychiatric patients from the State Neuropsychiatric Hospital located in the state capital.
It was learnt that the nine patients, on Saturday, escaped from the facility and the whereabouts have since remained unknown.
The incident is now causing panic among the residents of the area where the psychiatric hospital is located. They’re expressing fears that the runaway patients may endanger the lives of other residents of the state capital.
In 2018, a patient of the Neuro-Psychiatric Specialist Hospital in Akure, reportedly beat the Chief Medical Director, Dr Akinwumi Akinloye and three nurses to coma.
The weak security system and porous nature of the hospital environment are being blamed for the escape of the patients said to be undergoing treatment at the hospital as of the time they suddenly vanished.
A staff of the hospital, who pleaded not to be identified, said the facility for keeping the patients was not secure enough.
He therefore warned the state government to take urgent steps to improve facilities at the hospital or risk a situation where the psychiatric patients would storm the streets of Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Relations of patients receiving treatment at the hospital expressed regret at the worsening situation in the facility.
They appealed to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to quickly intervene to avoid any untoward occurrence.
A family member of a patient lamented that he had to cough out the sum of N200,000 to get his relative, who earlier escaped, back to the facility to continue treatment.
He appealed to the state government to urgently take some steps to strengthen the hospital’s security system so as to stop the frequent escape of psychiatric patients undergoing treatment at the facility.
The state’s Special Adviser on Health, Prof Simidele Odimayo, had yet to react to the development as of the time of filing this report.
