Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has been accused of frustrating efforts to carry out COVID-19 test on patients showing symptoms of the dreaded pandemic.
The president of the Association of Resident Doctors, Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Lokoja, Agwu Nnanna, made the allegation in a statement Tuesday night.
Lamenting the lack of adequate COVID-19 testing in the state, Nnanna said the state of things in Kogi currently, had increased the risk of contracting the virus among health workers.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Ministry of Health and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 to rally all relevant stakeholders in Kogi State to ensure coronavirus tests were carried out in the state for the safety of health workers.
“Many patients with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 have been seen severally in the hospital but efforts to get them tested were frustrated by the state government authorities.
“There is a palpable fear at the Federal Medical Centre Lokoja as medical doctors and other health workers raise alarm of imminent danger posed by the Covid-19 pandemic to their lives.
“This was against the backdrop of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) report issued on 17th May 2020 that only a single Covid-19 test has been conducted in Kogi State since the disease was recorded in the country about three months ago.
“The doctors fear that they are at a high risk of contracting the disease and transmitting same to their families and other unsuspecting patients. It is a known fact that without Covid-19 tests, physicians cannot properly categorize and treat the patients coming into the hospital in accordance with the management protocols.
“The federal ministry of health and the presidential task force on COVID-19 should rally all relevant stakeholders in Kogi State to ensure that tests are being done to ensure the safety of the healthcare workers as they are now the most-at-risk population in the state.
“One cannot underestimate the impact of this disease on the lives of the families who have lost loved ones to it. As at today across the country 603 doctors have been exposed, 149 confirmed positive and 7 deaths recorded. We in FMC Lokoja do not wish to be joined in these statistics,” Nnanna said.
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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had earlier, said that only one person had been tested of COVID-19 in Kogi State.
The agency stated that to counter the claim by the Bello led government of the state that 111 persons had been tested of the virus and that their results all turned out negative.
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