The Minister
of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has recommended sanctions for Kenya Airways for
flying in an unaccompanied body of a Nigerian man who died in the
Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC)
The body
flown into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on Monday,
22, tested negative for the Ebola virus.
Prof.
Adewole, who confirmed the development said that a test was carried out and had
tested negative for the virus, but he refused to divulge the cause of the deceased’s
death, citing medical confidentiality.
According to
THISDAY, the corpse of a young man was
flown in onboard a Kenya Airways flight and quarantined by the Port Health
Services (PHS) to ascertain if the death of the deceased was caused by the Ebola
virus, since the DRC is currently facing another outbreak of the deadly
haemorrhagic fever.
In order not
to cause panic in the country, Prof. Adewole was immediately contacted to
ascertain if the dead person might have died as a result of the Ebola virus.
The minister on Tuesday confirmed that the body was moved to the University of
Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for immediate tests where it tested negative to
Ebola.
“We have
conducted tests in LUTH and it is negative for Ebola Virus Disease. We shall however
remain vigilant,” the minister said in a text message to THISDAY immediately
after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting of the cabinet in Abuja.
It was
further revealed that Kenya Airways dumped the unaccompanied corpse in the
basement of the terminal. As of Tuesday evening, the body had not been
identified and no relative of the deceased turned up to claim it.
It was on
this basis that the body was seized by the officials of Nigerian Customs
Service who invited officials of PHS at the airport to examine the corpse. An
informed source told THISDAY:
“I can
confirm that a body was brought in yesterday (Monday) by Kenya Airways and we
heard the body came in from the DRC and when the body arrived it was seized by
Customs.”
Although the
report of the test result was negative, it was learnt that concerned aviation
authority officials have written to Kenya Airways and reprimanded the airline.
They were
said to have informed the airline that it should not have brought the corpse to
Nigeria at a time the Ebola disease has resurfaced in the DRC. A source with
the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) also confirmed that the agency was
investigating the incident “within the ambit of the law. An airline operator
who expressed shock at the incident said the NCAA should first of all suspend
Kenya Airways from operating in Nigeria forthwith.
“What Kenya
Airways has done is extremely unprofessional and they should be punished for it
so that in the future nobody would try that,” the operator said.
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