Kogi FMC Doctors fears large scale COVID-19, accuses Bello of frustrating effort to test patients

Medical doctors at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja have raised the alarm saying that their efforts were being frustrated to test patients who have COVID-19 symptoms by the administration of governor Yahaya Bello.

The State claimed to have tested 111 patients with all returned negative, but a situation report released on 17th May, 2020 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said one patient was tested, but was returned negative.

Dr.Agwu Nana, President of the Associaton of Resident Doctors, FMC Lokoja feared a high risk among health workers, he said in a statement he issued on Tuesday.

“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,” he said.

“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 Association insisted that rje Federal Ministry of Health and the PTF on COVID-19 to “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,” he said.

They threatened to take their destinies into their hands if norhing was done.

CAPITAL POST recalled that the NCDC had visited Kogi in the first week of May, but the state claimed the agency’s officials “fled” the state when they were asked to undergo tests for COVID-19.

The Director General of NCDC Chikwe Ihekweazu has expressed dissappointment of the governor frustrating the effort of his officials in Kogi State.