Kwara's Governor Abdulrazaq sacks ambulance driver for unprofessional conduct in Covid-19 evacuation

GOVERNOR Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State has sacked an ambulance driver employed by the civil service for unilaterally attending to a man who was evacuated in an ambulance in Ilorin after contracting coronavirus.

In a video which recently went viral, the driver was seen helping to lift the affected man into an ambulance without any protective equipment on. Neither he nor the members of the public who assisted him took any measures to protect themselves and are almost certain to have contracted the virus from the infected patient.

Exasperated with the callous disregard they all showed for the state government's guidelines, Governor Abdulrazaq sacked the driver and is due to query senior officials of the Kwara State Ministry of Health. During the incident, which was recorded along Taiwo Road in Ilorin the Kwara State capital, none of those present was wearing personal protective equipment.

Rafiu Ajakaye, Governor Abdulrasaq's spokesman, said:“The governor totally condemns the shoddy handling of the gentleman who was clearly going through a hard time. He has directed that the driver be fired immediately.

"As the investigation revealed, the driver failed to heed clear directives not to take any action until the Rapid Response Team (RRT)  arrives at the scene. He evacuated the gentleman with the help of members of the public without waiting for the arrival of the RRT.”

Also, the governor further directed that members of the RRT be queried, while other steps are being taken to ensure the incident does not repeat itself. Kwara State currently has 53 cases of coronavirus, of which there has been one death,.

Mr Ajakaye added: “Involving just anybody in the evacuation of a suspected case, as was seen in the footage, was a clear and dangerous violation of Covid-19 safety protocols. The government equally finds it quite distasteful and unacceptable that the driver, who had long been involved in such operations made unethical comments to somebody in distress.

“That incident was avoidable and we sincerely apologise to the gentleman and the people of Kwara state for the embarrassing development. We assure them this will not happen again."