Do not abandon patients with other ailment, FG tells hospitals

Posted by FN Editor | 4 years ago | 1,011 times



The federal government yesterday implored managements of hospitals across the country not to abandon patients with other ailments as the country battles the Coronavirus pandemic.

This is just as it warned that the failure of the populace to take responsibility in the fight against the pandemic was threatening the earlier gains recorded against the spread of the virus.

Secretary to the government of the federation, Boss Mustapha, gave the warning yesterday during the daily briefing of the PTF in Abuja.

According to him, the PTF has also continued to watch developments from other jurisdictions especially those that have similar climatic and demographics with Nigeria.

He observed that the number of confirmed cases in Brazil had risen to 1,084,833, which makes the Latin American country the second worst hit in the whole world with over 50,000 deaths.

The SGF noted that WHO had reported that South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana have proportionally been the most affected countries on the continent.

He said, “All these combined represents a serious wake up call for us all to be responsive and to take full responsibility. Ladies and gentlemen, our failure to take responsibility threatens the gains we have recorded which is not good for our large population.

“Let me give you a vivid picture of how this virus has spread across our nation by timelines: April 16 2020: 442 cases May 16, 2020: 5,621 cases

June 16, 2020:17, 148 cases. We really have a choice to make and there is an urgency of yesterday”.

Mustapha also renewed calls to medical practitioners and hospitals not to neglect other diseases and ailments because of COVID-19.

He said the declaration that Nigeria was now a Polio-free nation last week by the WHO was a welcomed development.

According to him, the declaration is a signal that overcoming COVID-19 and indeed any other infectious disease is possible and shall be achieved.

He stated: “We use this opportunity to renew our call to the medical practitioners and hospitals not to neglect other diseases and ailments because of COVID-19,” he added.

The SGF also implored Nigerians not to be afraid of undertaking the COVID-19 test.

He explained that testing positive for COVID-19 was not a death sentence, but failure to test, especially when symptoms are evident, could result in death as it may be too late once the symptoms become full blown.

According to him, “the loss of any Nigerian is not only painful but most avoidable provided we seek help early.”

He further stated that the PTF was also not unmindful of the possibility of imports especially through the land borders.

“For this reason, our men and women of the Nigerian Immigration Service remain vigilant and this has resulted in the apprehension of two foreigners who tried to enter the country illegally over the week-end. This commendable effort is appreciated,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) yesterday declared that no state in the country was free of the coronavirus disease.

NCDC director-general, Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this during the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.

The NCDC also unveiled a brand new Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine, which has been procured using some of the £661,000 UK Aid funding commitment that the British government had made to Nigeria’s branch of the World Health Organisation this year.

The machine was presented to the NCDC director-general, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Immunisation Team Lead and current officer-in-charge of WHO Nigeria, Dr Fiona Braka, at the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), a campus of the NCDC National Reference Laboratory in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, DG of NCDC said the PCR Machine, which is a small part of the centre’s bigger testing strategy, would help Nigeria in driving towards her goal to test over 2 million people over the next three months.

Ihekweazu said that the laboratory will now be able to play an even bigger role to help us meet this target.

The representative of the British High Commission, Karl Holmes, said the procurement of the PCR machine was a commitment made by the UK government’s ongoing financial and technical support to Nigeria for the provision of diagnostic reagents and consumables, Biosafety training and certifications through International Health Regulations (IHR) Strengthening Project led by Public Health England.

Holmes said The UK had been supporting Nigerian authorities with technical assistance, direct financing and by flexing our existing health portfolio to help with Nigeria’s preparedness, planning and public health response at both the national and local level to respond, combat and curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She further stated that the PCR machine, which is the most accurate laboratory method for detecting, tracking and studying the coronavirus, would enhance the NCDC’s COVID-19 testing capabilities in Nigeria, increasing the nation’s capacity to carry out at least 3,000 tests per day.

According to her, the UK government and the federal government of Nigeria have been collaborating in the response to COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria since January 2020.

She further said the UK had been working closely with authorities across Nigeria, including the NCDC, to support preparedness, planning and wider public health response efforts to contain the spread of the virus in Nigeria.

 


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