| The Nigerian Agip Oil Company, a member of the Italian oil giant, ENI Group, has offered to fly some of the more critical victims of Tuesday�s pipeline fire at Awori Abule- Egba overseas.
The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the company, Mr. Antonio Panza, made the offer on Friday when Agip donated drugs worth N6 million to the management of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in fulfillment of the promise made by the group�s president, Mr. Paola Scaroni, when he visited the fire victims on Wednesday. Delivering the drugs to the Chief Medical Director of the teaching Hospital, Dr. Femi Olugbile, the Agip boss said, �We are organising for the arrival of an Italian professor, a burns specialist, to make an assessment and advise us on our promise to assist in the long-term rehabilitation of some of the victims that might require further treatment overseas.� Panza stated that the drugs were the first tranche of assistance promised the hospital, adding that �the company�s medical structures in Nigeria and Italy had been activated to move and support the system.� The donation is coming against the backdrop of the loss of seven out of the 23 victims admitted by LASUTH. Olugbile noted that the deaths were unavoidable, especially as most of the victims had over 50 per cent degree burns. The chief medical director refused to comment on the total number of deaths, saying he could only speak on those admitted by LASUTH. According to him, a decision was reached on Wednesday, in a meeting of top officials of LASUTH, the National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, and the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health to evolve a strategy for the treatment of the patients and the best way to optimise their chances of survival. He said the meeting decided that all the victims of the pipeline fire should be treated by these hospitals. |
Dec302006