The Federal Government has said no fewer than 113 health workers are currently infected with the Novel Coronavirus, stressing the need for those in the front lines against Covid-19 to adhere to its advisories relating to the management of the pandemic.
This was as the government asked Nigerians to remain where they are at present and refrain from traveling to their states or villages, saying the measure was necessary to halt the transmission of the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic.
A government which said it had received an interim report from the team of medical experts it sent to Kano in the wake of mass deaths in the state, added that it has sent in three ventilators, personal protective equipment and experts drawn from Abuja, Lagos and Irrua to assist the state in halting the deaths of people.
While it said two molecular laboratories have begun functioning in Kano state, the federal government added that it has also begun establishing a third laboratory there.
The Presidential Taskforce PTF on Covid-19 disclosed these on Thursday in Abuja while giving an update on the fight against the pandemic during its daily briefing.
At the event, Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire asked health workers to adhere to advisories of the ministry to guard against infection. He said more experts would be sent to Kano to assist the state halt the spread of the virus, adding that primary healthcare in the country would not be abandoned in spite of the current efforts to stamp out Covid-19.
“It is very important for healthcare workers to understand that nobody is conscripted, everybody is a volunteer. Those who cannot handle it generally have the option of requesting to be excused and someone else would come in.
“As for the doctors, it is a fable to say over 300 of them are infected. That is not true. There are not so many people in the health sector who are infected. The latest figures we have is that they are about 113 actually and these are not all public health workers.
A good number of them are from private hospitals and if you hear us speaking here frequently against trying to treat Coronavirus in private clinics, we are actually referring to people who do so without having necessary precautions or training because they risk infecting themselves and they go home and give this infection to their family and that is not the right thing.
So, the healthcare workers who have no training, have no business actually handling Coronavirus. As for those who do not have equipment, we have said that we provided equipment and PPE for all those who are out there. There are one or two places where we have heard that there is a tightness with supply and we are trying to send them over.
“I once again call on health workers to stringently follow laid down standard infection, prevention and control measures at all times and not to take risks.
We cannot afford to lose the service of essential manpower at this time; every client should be treated with a high index of suspicion for COVID-19, but treat every client with fairness so that persons suffering from other ailments do not suffer neglect or treatment refusal.
It is not ethical to turn clients away without, at least a medical advice, neither should a person in distress be refused care in emergency situation. The advisory on case management is accessible online”.
Originally posted on April 30, 2020 @ 11:08 pm
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