A medical house officer, ThankGod Odo, on Friday, reportedly drowned in a swimming pool at a popular hotel in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
Sunday PUNCH investigation revealed that Odo, until his demise, was undergoing his housemanship at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki.
It was gathered that the deceased, who hailed from the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state, had gone to the hotel to swim with his friends, on Friday, when the incident happened.
A source close to the deceased, who spoke to Sunday Special on condition of anonymity, said, “Odo swims very well and even teaches people how to swim. He was teaching his friends how to swim the same day he drowned. He was supposed to round off his housemanship a few days later.”
The Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee of the hospital, Dr. Ewa Richard, confirmed the incident.
He said, “Odo was undergoing his one-year housemanship at the hospital and was due for graduation so he could go for the National Youth Service Corps programme.”
“Dr. ThankGod was one of our most dedicated and hard-working house officers. Most of them will finish on December 12 (yesterday) and I’m sure he would have been among them.”
“We don’t have information about what killed him but we heard that he and his friends went to swim at a hotel. He drowned there and was brought to the hospital but by the time they got to the hospital, he was already dead. His body has been deposited in the mortuary.”
A consultant at AE-FUTHA, who pleaded anonymity, said, “I don’t know how to describe this ugly incident. Odo knew how to swim and even taught people how to swim. How could he just die in a swimming pool where he was swimming with others? This is terrible.”
@ Punch Newspaper
