After weeks of anxiety owing to the widespread complaints of generally experienced cluster of symptoms, attendant deaths and undue pressure on the health system in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, there has been some reprieve.

Chief Medical Director of St. Charles Surgery, Chief Charles John-Jumbo, speaking on behalf of the Bonny Doctors Forum, told Kristina Reports that there has been a general improvement in the situation around the island community.

According to the renowned medical expert, there has been a sharp drop in the number of outpatient visits to medical facilities in the area, as well as drastic reduction in the complaints of symptoms such as loss of taste and loss of sense of smell, coughing, headache, fever, etc.  

John-Jumbo, who is also the Chief and Head of the John-Jumbo Chieftaincy House of Bonny Kingdom, announced that there was also now a 100% response to treatment by patients across all the medical facilities in Bonny LGA.

Prior to this time, across the local government area a daily wave of deaths was experienced cutting across both the riverine and upland parts of the LGA.

So far, over 25 deaths have been recorded in the island community.

Though, most of the deceased persons have prior health conditions, the medical community was worried as to why they were all dropping dead within this period. Between two and three deaths were recorded on a daily basis.

“The strange thing about these deaths is that some of these persons were patients we were managing for one illness or the other over a long period of time. Why are they dropping dead now?”

These spate of mysterious deaths raised tensions across the LGA as residents became apprehensive as it coincided with the shutdown of the Nigeria LNG plant in Bonny.

There were strong speculations that the unprecedented widespread complaints of symptoms and the attendant deaths were linked to the flaring of accumulated gas from the plant.

In a Facebook live interview, a former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Bonny LGA, Cyril Hart said “I saw some pictures on Facebook of thick smoke from the flare tanks of NLNG. I saw the thick smoke from the flare tanks of NLNG. I think that was what happened and few days after we began to hear things like loss of smell and all of that”.

But Nigeria LNG’s General Manager, External Relations, Eyono Fatayi-Williams, stated that “there was no injury or damage to asset,” adding that “power was restored within two hours of the outage by its engineers following laid down protocols and strict adherence to the safety goal of zero harm to people, zero damage to assets, no spills and no process safety incidents.”  

The company maintained that upon experiencing “an operational trip at its six-train plant on Bonny Island on 14th May 2020, which resulted to the temporary loss of power at the plant,” “relevant authorities and stakeholders were duly informed as part of protocol for managing such operational trips”.

Chief John-Jumbo explained that the doctors became concerned when they started witnessing a spike in outpatient visits, which jumped from a daily average of 40 to 50 persons to an alarming daily average of between 80 to 90 visits, some days jumping as high as over 100, adding that the General Hospital, Bonny was the hardest hit.

Faced with an unprecedented patient management burden, the doctors compared notes, discussed responses, and evolved solutions via their Whatsapp platform, which over time paid off with several people recovering from the symptoms.

One of the doctors, who preferred anonymity, revealed that a huge chunk of these recoveries were due more to adherence to lifestyle changes advised by the doctors such as staying indoors, drinking more water, eating good food, and abstaining from health undermining life choices.    

The St. Charles Surgery CMD further disclosed that the doctors also reached out to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Rivers State Ministry of Health for interventions to assist unravel the cause of the widespread symptoms and strange deaths.

This led to the visit of the NCDC team on Saturday, May 16, 2020 to collect samples from volunteers and that of the State Commissioner for Health, Professor Princewill Chike, next day, Sunday, May 17, 2020 to inspect the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) isolation and treatment centre, and the Bonny Isolation Centre located inside the premises of the General Hospital, Bonny.

The results of samples taken for the General Hospital, Bonny eventually returned with three out of the five samples taken returning negative and two positive, thus resulting in Bonny having her index cases of COVID-19.

Following the development, a combined team of the NCDC and the State Ministry of Health arrived Bonny on Saturday, May 30, 2020 to commence tracking and contact tracing of the index cases, collecting more samples and also setting up the ventilators and other treatment facilities at the Bonny Isolation Centre.

Chairman of Bonny LGA, David Irimagha expressed delight with the improved situation, urging the people of the area to strictly adhere to lifestyle guidelines issued by the medical community, saying that “COVID-19 is not a death sentence, people are recovering but we need to keep ourselves safe”.

On his part, the lawmaker representing Ward 9 in the Bonny Legislative Assembly, Prince Christy-Wilcox urged resident of the area to go for testing to know their COVID-19 status, saying he had gone for his samples to be taken for testing, appealing for a collaborative approach to the fight against COVID-19.    

Also speaking on the issue, the Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of Bonny Kingdom, His Majesty, King Edward Pepple III, CON, Perekule XI, through a statement by the Bonny Council of Chiefs (BCC) signed by Chairman of the council, Chief Dagogo Wilcox warned residents to take seriously the COVID-19 protocols as issued by the government at all levels.

The Bonny Monarch frowned at the proliferation of illegal markets, flouting of protocols by transporters in the area, and the general lack of adherence to sanitation and personal hygiene, noting that it was important these protocols were adhered to if the fight against the coronavirus pandemic was to be won.