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North Manchester General Hospital
TB man's escape sparks police hunt
Bethan Dorsett18/10/2007
A ROCHDALE man suffering from a deadly illness sparked a major police alert when he fled his guarded hospital room.
The patient was being held at North Manchester General Hospital after Rochdale Council, fearing he could spread tuberculosis, sought a court order to detain him. But on Tuesday, doctors were forced to call in the police after discovering he had disappeared from his bed after giving the guard manning his door the slip.
A helicopter and dozens of officers scoured Cheetham Hill, but found no trace of the man.
The search was called off eight hours later when he reappeared over 200 miles away in London, where he admitted himself into another hospital.
A probe has been launched to find out how the patient, who is originally from South Africa, but lives in Rochdale, managed to escape from the Crumpsall hospital.
It is not known why or how he travelled to the capital but, having interviewed the patient, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) is satisfied that no-one else was infected during his missing hours.
Rochdale Council took the unusual move - ‘with regret‘ - of asking for a court to ban him from leaving his ward because it feared he would not stick to his treatment and pass on the highly-infectious disease
It is part of a multi-agency team investigating his disappearance, along with public health body, the HPA.
A spokesman for the latter said: “The team involved in this case considered the facts very carefully and reached a conclusion that as the patient is voluntarily in hospital in London and is receiving appropriate treatment, there is no necessity to seek a new detention order.
”However, the group is actively monitoring the situation and keeping close contact with clinicians who are responsible for the patient's care and, should circumstances change in future, reserves the right to return court to seek a new order should that be necessary."
The number of people suffering from the disease is on the rise in the North West.
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18/10/2007 at 22:30