Doctor who continued to work amid cornavirus pandemic despite having retired dies from disease
A doctor, who had retired after 40 years of service but continued to work part-time amidst the coronavirus pandemic, has died after he contracted COVID-19 because he refused to go to a hospital as he did not want to take up beds.
Dr. Alfa Saadu, 68, died on Tuesday, March 31, at the Whittington Hospital in north London after battling the illness for two weeks, according to the BBC.
His son, Dani Saadu, confirmed his passing in a social media post. "Today at approx 7.30 am, Dr Alfa Saadu (my dad) died of the coronavirus," he wrote. "He had been fighting the virus for two weeks but he could not fight anymore. The NHS were amazing and did everything they could."
"My dad was a living legend, worked for the NHS for nearly 40 years saving people’s lives here and in Africa. Up until he got sick, he was still working part-time saving people."
He revealed that his father had started showing symptoms two weeks ago and had immediately self-isolated. When advised to go to a hospital for treatment, he reportedly declined. Dani said his father had insisted he "did not want to take up a hospital bed because others would need it" before adding that he was a "a very passionate man, who cared about saving people."
"As soon as you spoke to him about medicine or what was happening with the NHS his eyes would light up - he was very passionate," he shared. "He was working part-time as a locum as he just could not fully retire. He just loved medicine so much."
"He worked for the NHS for nearly 40 years in different hospitals across London and he loved to lecture people in the world of medicine, he did so in the UK and Africa."
The 68-year-old had been a medical director at the Princess Alexandria Hospital in Essex and Ealing NHS Trust and had been appointed interim medical director when the trust merged to become the London North West University NHS Trust in 2014.
Amongst those who paid tribute to Saadu was the former president of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who also posted a quote from the Qur'an that read, "Verily we belong to Allah (God), and verily to Him do we return."
"My condolences go to the family of late Dr. Alfa Sa'adu, the people of Pategi and Kwara State on the death of the foremost medical practitioner who passed away in London this morning," Saraki wrote on Twitter.
Following his father's death, Dani has warned people across the UK to take the government's advice seriously as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise. As of Thursday, April 2, there were more than 29,000 confirmed cases, as per John Hopkins University's live-tracking dashboard.
"I remember a few weeks ago when Boris Johnson said 'be prepared to lose loved ones,'" Dani said. ""I got really angry and remember thinking, 'why is he saying this? It is not the kind of thing you say on TV.'"
"Now I understand what he means. People need to take this virus seriously. I have seen it first-hand - this virus kills people."