The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has said that Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos will remain shut to all students except the Junior Secondary School students who would only come in for their on-going examinations on a daily basis until water sources in the school become fit for consumption.

Dr Ehanire, made this known during an inspection tour of the school’s water and other facilities, accompanied by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris and the school Principal, Mrs Biola, among others.

Dr. Ehanire said the gaps in the school water supply source which led to the unfortunate death of three students are being fixed so that such tragedy will not repeat itself.

A laboratory report had shown that since the beginning of January 2017, over 1,222 students of the secondary school, had been treated at the school’s clinic for abdominal pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

Also, 16 of them were purportedly admitted to various hospitals in the country. While two others had died, one was said to be in the intensive care unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

This was revealed in a statement by the Unity School Old Students’ Association (USOSA), adding that water sources in the school were contaminated by pathogens.

“The analysis also indicates that the boreholes that provide principal sources of water for the school are too shallow and too close in proximity to the sewage systems, to which the contamination has been traced,”

President of the association, Chidi Odinkalu, subsequently accused the school authorities of concealing the facts from the public, noting that the school has shown reckless disregard for the lives of the students.