Report: No footage showing monkeypox patient walking out ward

Findings of an investigation into the shock departure of Jamaica’s first monkeypox patient have suggested that he indeed escaped through a bathroom window, challenging a counterclaim that he walked from the isolation ward.

The July 9 disappearance from May Pen Hospital triggered an hours-long, frenzied, multi-agency search. The patient was eventually picked up at his home in a Clarendon community.

A security review revealed that the patient was observed on the premises by staff and security personnel outside the hospital compound about 11:50 a.m. and was urged to return to the isolation unit.

But the patient reportedly refused those urgings, became boisterous, and entered a blue Honda Fit which drove off, sources with knowledge of the official report told The Gleaner.

Personnel from the hospital contacted the next of kin, who cooperated, informing them that the patient contacted her on Friday, July 8, as well as the next morning, saying that he was discharged from the hospital.

A review of CCTV footage from the isolation ward did not support the patient’s claim that he walked through the doorway as he claimed in a Jamaica Observer report, The Gleaner understands.

No evidence of departure

Footage spanning 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 9 showed no evidence of his departure through official exits.

Checks, however, revealed that the bathroom window was opened wider than normal – leading to the deduction that that was the route of escape.

Manager of the Clarendon Health Department, Joseph Grant, confirmed in a Gleaner interview on Monday that the patient is still in isolation and that contacts were also in quarantine.

“They should have been released on Friday, but the quarantine order was extended for another week,” Grant said.

In her presentation to the Clarendon Municipal Corporation monthly meeting last Thursday, Medical Officer of Health Dr Kimberly Scarlett Campbell said the patient was admitted on suspicion and within 24 hours the results confirmed he had monkeypox.

“Sometimes when you get some news like this, sometimes persons might not process the information as well. The doctors will tell them that you have this diagnosis and sometimes they don’t want to accept that diagnosis,” she said.

The hospital has since reinforced its bathroom windows and assigned additional security guards outside the wards.