The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki (AE-FETHA), Prof. Robinson Onoh, has confirmed the deaths of two victims from the recent gas explosion at Good Shepherd Catering School in Orokeonuoha community, Ebonyi State.
The explosion, which occurred on Friday, left 10 female students hospitalized.
According to reports, the blast was triggered by a phone in the kitchen section of the school, leading to severe injuries among the students. Prof. Onoh revealed that despite efforts to save all the victims, two of them succumbed to their injuries.
The remaining eight students are still receiving treatment at the hospital, with medical teams working tirelessly to stabilize their condition.
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“Both nurses, plastic surgeons, anaesthetist team, internal medicine and respiratory team and management are on ground to do the needful.
“We lost two already; one on arrival and yesterday, October 19, we lost another, making it two deaths.
“Our team is on ground to make sure we do not lose another person,” the CMD said.
Onoh revealed that inhalation and saver dressing foam were the major challenges in the treatment of the victims.
“Inhalation is as a result of accumulation of smoke from burns; it is part of the burns affecting their breathing; we have been able to separate them.
“The saver dressing foam reduces frequency of dressing and healing process faster.
“The inhalation is a big challenge; burns can be managed but once there is an inhalational component, it becomes a problem.
“Saver dressing foam is quite expensive; it is not available here; we had to get this from Enugu State.
“We hope to get more; we do not want to use a particular one which could cause infection and pains affect healing,” Prof. Onoh added.