A COVID-19 patient fled from the isolation ward at Hwedza Hospital on Wednesday last week for fear of an injection and a senior doctor was among the people who chased after the 23-year-old man to bring him back.
Acting Hwedza District Medical Officer Dr Herbert Bandiki told H-Metro that the patient picked up some bricks from a nearby construction site and threatened to attack people who were trying to apprehend him. Said Bandiki:
What happened is that when he came to the hospital, he showed symptoms of pneumonia, having some difficulties in breathing and we admitted him.
As is the procedure, we admitted the patient, administered drugs, and in the afternoon, maybe he thought he felt better.
So when I was about to get another injection whilst the patient was in the ward, he ran out of the isolation ward.
When we were trying to apprehend him, this patient was violent that we then tried to get help from the police.
Currently, the patient is being monitored at his homestead. We then tested the mother who came out negative and the other contacts he met.
… I was one of those who ran after him through a nearby bush area.
Bandiki said the police and an environmental health officer went to the man’s homestead and did some health education there.
He said the patient is recovering very well at home and his mother confirmed that he is difficult to convince when it comes to injections.