There was pandemonium at the Niger Delta University, Okolobiri, in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State on Monday after a victim of the monkeypox viral disease committed suicide.
The action heightened fear in the hospital environment, as some other quarantined victims reasoned that they were left with no hope despite assurances that the ailment was not terminal.
It was learnt that the victim was on the verge of being discharged before report filtered that he has committed suicide at the quarantined centre of the hospital.
The Bayelsa State Government quickly moved to douse the tension.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Ebitimitula Etebu, said the unmanned deceased did not die as a result of the monkeypox viral infection, as claimed in some quarters.
Etebu averred that the victim was already discharged, only for doctors on duty to prepare his certificate but getting to the ward, they discovered that he had committed suicide.
He added that the deceased’s medical record did not suggest that he had suffered mental illness or going through any form of depression.
Etebu reassured other patients that the monkeypox ailment is not a terminal disease and that it is not life-threatening sickness.
