Unconventional Doctor Rescues 18 Students from Food Poisoning Crisis in Osun School

More than Eighteen students of St James’s Primary School ‘B’, Owo-Ope, Osogbo who developed complications after eating food provided by the state government under the free food scheme codenamed O’Meal were treated by Quark doctor.

Recall, DAILY IMPACT reported that a student of St James Primary School B, about 17 started stopping and vomiting after eating the food provided to them by the government cook.

Speaking with a single mother of three, Blessing,  whose two eldest children were affected. She narrates her ordeal on that day.

According to her, We tried to give them quick aid around 2:30 pm but it did not work. When it was getting out of hand, I took them out of the room to the front of the house and started shouting.

A crowd gathered in front of the house and later I was advised to take them to a hospital behind the house.

The hospital’s bill is cheap and the owner, Dokky, has been treating children from this neighbourhood very well. Although there are other private hospitals around, their services are expensive.

The Primary Health Care centre at Sabo is not far, but I was told that some parents whose children were affected by the food poisoning left the place for one reason or the other.

Responding to the allegation that some parents might have collected money from some people to blackmail the government’s food programme, Blessing yelled at our correspondent, saying “I never collected any money from anyone. I relocated from Bayelsa to Osun, so I don’t know anybody.

Other children in the school who did not eat the egg provided were not affected. Even pupils from St James School ‘A’, close to the school of my children which is ‘B’, were not affected.

Officials of the state government from Abere came to meet us at Dokky’s place. They promised that they would settle the bill. So nobody should tell us that food poisoning on our children is fabricated.

We went to Dokky, which was another alternative in the neighbourhood, because, at that point, we were about six parents whose children were affected.

We arrived at his single room hospital and he charged us N4,000. We told him to go ahead with the boy’s treatment. He gave him a drip and then an injection, which went a long way in stopping the vomit and loose stool. He was our saver.

Dokky, however, declined comments when our correspondent sought his reaction, warning him (correspondent) not to come to his place again.

Don’t come here again. If you have any questions, go and ask them at Osun State University Teaching Hospital where the children are continuing their check-ups after they were resuscitated,” he said.

Further investigation revealed that Dokky had been practising in the neighbourhood for five years, and despite the availability of three private hospitals in the area, he thrived because many in the neighbourhood are poor and cannot afford the cost of health care services in private hospitals. They are also usually disappointed most times they visit the Primary Health Center in Sabo as the basic things they need are mostly not available.

Contacted, the Chairman of the Olorunda Local Government Education Authority (LGEA), Mr Nathaniel Ojetola, confirmed that the pupils were taken to quack doctors for treatment after the complications they suffered from alleged food poisoning.

He added that “one Dokky took care of them by orthodox medicine and traditional means when he mobilised other government officials to the single room used by the one KB.

Our correspondent visited the office of the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, who is also the Deputy Chief Medical Director of Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Dr Tunde Afolabi, who confirmed that he received 32 pupils brought in by the state government for examination.

He said: “We received a total of 32 students brought in by the Ministry of Food and agency O’ Meal. I invited directors in various areas like laboratory science, pharmacy, and nursing services, and also because of the pupils’ age, people in paediatrics were involved.

We have three consultants, including a professor, to review the children’s cases. Each of them was tested, treated and re-evaluated.

We discovered that they were in a stable state and only one had some degree of weakness, and following our investigation, we also carried out tests on them. Thirty-one of them were asked to go.

Those who passed stool were given oral rehydration to rehydrate them. Some of them were given antibiotics and the one that was found to be very weak was placed on admission and discharged on Wednesday.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on O-Meal, Grace Ayodele, however, debunked the food poisoning allegation, describing it as fake news from opposition political parties to tarnish the image of the state government.

She said: “Findings of government investigation also showed the inconsistency in the testimonies of some of the parents as well as the shady circumstances between the morning feeding and alleged food poisoning late at night.