Lagos train accident: 32 victims discharged, says health commissioner
Thirty-two victims of Thursday’s train-bus accident at the PWD – Shogunle axis of Ikeja in Lagos State have been discharged from three public health facilities, according to the state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi has said.
Speaking on Friday at a news briefing to give update and situation report of the incident, Abayomi disclosed that 19 of the 102 accident victims were discharged from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH); five from Accident and Emergency Centre at the Toll Gate and eight from the Orile-Agege General Hospital.
He added that LASUTH received additional 17 victims of the accident on Thursday after the initial 85 that was recorded, bringing the total number of injured persons to 102.
The commissioner noted that the fatality figure remained at six with no other death recorded from noon yesterday till noon on Friday.
The commissioner adduce the low casualty figure recorded to the effective triage strategy that was put in place and carried out first by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) and the management of LASUTH.
He said: “What we have recorded here in the hospital (LASUTH), is 102 injured persons associated with the train-bus accident. We believe most of these would have been inside the bus, but because the bus was carried for a long distance by the train, we are also aware that there were persons that were injured outside of the bus. So, this is probably responsible for the higher number of persons that were brought to LASUTH for treatment.
“It is a bit too early to really get full details from most of the passengers or injured persons because a lot of them are in pain due to the moderate and severe injuries, so it is not a time to over stress them, but as they get better, we are going to collect more information from them.
“At the moment, we have discharged 19 passengers from LASUTH, and I’m also aware that at the other hospitals where patients who have moderate to mild injuries were referred to, many of them are being prepared for discharge this morning. And the information I have now is that, at the Toll Gate Accident and Emergency Centre, they are about to discharge five in addition to the 19 that were discharged here in LASUTH and also at Orile-Agege General Hospital where we sent 10 passengers, we are about to discharge eight.”.
The commissioner said that he has visited patients transferred to other government hospitals from LASUTH, adding that all patients are stable and responding well to treatment.
Abayomi disclosed that 40 units of blood were transfused to stabilize patients who require blood transfusion adding that the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS) was able to collect 256 units of blood from voluntary donors who heeded the call for blood donation for victims of the accident.
