EKITI: Firemen arrested after fumigation leaves 100 college students hospitalised

THE State Government says it will investigate the strange health incident that broke out yesterday, which led to hospitalisation of about 100 students of its College of Health Technology, Ijero Ekiti, Ijero Local Government Area,

Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Oyebanji Filani, told newsmen in Ado-Ekiti that the state would unravel the cause of the students’ hospital admission.

A fumigation exercise carried out in the college environment by some officials of government a couple of days ago, as part of a measure aimed at preventing the Covid-19 pandemic, is be.ieved to have led to the scary incident.

The commissioner said that officials of the Federal Fire Service personnel, who carried out the exercise had been handed over to the police for questioning.

It was gathered that some of the students hospitalised may have been asthmatic patients, who developed complications not long after inhaling the chemical used for the fumigation.

Those with critical conditions were said to have been rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, Ido/Osi LGA of the state.

It was further learnt that the students were writing examination when the fumigation took place, though the school management was said to have received a memo on the planned fumigation.

Reacting to the development, Filani said that the majority of the 100 students said to have been hospitalised as a result of the fumigation had been discharged.

Filani said that at the time of addressing the media, 36 of them were still hospitalised at the State specialist hospital, Ijero Ekiti.

“Two of them were referred to the Federal Teaching Hospital Ido Ekiti, while one was taken to a leading tertiary health facility in Ado Ekiti for further attention.

“Additional medical personnel, oxygen cylinders, and fluids had also been mobilised to the college to support those attending to the affected students,” he noted.