By MUHAMMAD NASIR

Management of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, says there is no outbreak of a strange disease in the hospital contrary to the rumours doing the round.

Chief Medical Director (CMD) of UDUTH, Dr Anas Sabir, stated this in a statement issued by the hospital’s Head of Public Affairs Unit, Malam Buhari Abubakar, in Sokoto on Saturday.

Sabir said the clarification had become necessary in view a viral audio with an unknown claiming that a patient brought to the hospital from Kaduna State died of a strange disease three days after being taken to the health facility.

He said that the voice attributed his source to two different FM stations operating in the state, claiming that 15 other patients also died of the same disease in the hospital.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the management of the hospital wishes to make it categorically clear that it has not, up till this moment, received any of such case from Kaduna or anywhere in the country.

“The hospital is free of any outbreak of disease or epidemic. Therefore, the said claim in the audio is totally false, baseless and mischievous,” he said.

The CMD said that the hospital’s management had contacted the authorities of the said FM stations, who, according to him, said that they were misquoted and clarified that UDUTH was not, at any point, mentioned in their reports.

“The general public should, therefore, note that while the hospital has nothing to hide, it also has standard protocol and capacity to manage emergencies any time they happen.

“This is as it did during COVID- 19 pandemic and other outbreaks in the past.

“Therefore, the public should disregard such unverified information being spread by mischief makers whose motive was to generate tension and discomfort in the community,” he added.

Sabir urged the public to remain calm, while assuring that the hospital environment was free of outbreak of any disease, as claimed in the said audio.

“Accordingly, you should kindly assist in providing useful information that will lead to the arrest of such mischief makers who are proactive in spreading falsehood,” he said.

The CMD said that the management was in constant communication with relevant security agencies to bring those he called bad elements to book. (NAN)

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