Doctors have continued to be at the receiving end of the coronavirus pandemic. Thirty four doctors have tested positive to the virus in Kano within the last two weeks. One of them has died, the doctors’ association said on Tuesday.
No fewer than 30 doctors in Lagos and Katsina states were reported on Monday to have tested positive to the virus.
Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Kano State chapter, Dr. Sanusi Bala said many of the victims were the doctors working at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH)
The others work with private clinics in the state.
According to him, many of them were infected through normal clinical routines while attending to unsuspected COVID-19 cases.
He said the association would protect its members and appealed to the authorities to provide more protection for doctors through procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
“We have doctors who are positive and one of them is dead in Kano. We are still compiling the data but as at now, we have 34 positive cases within the last two weeks,” Dr. Bala said.
He said the body had developed a feedback mechanism to access each facility for information and report to the relevant authorities.
“But what we all agreed is that, doctors don’t have PPEs, they shouldn’t risk their lives,” he said.
The AKTH spokesperson Mrs. Hauwa Muhammed, said the hospital had procured and distributed PPE to frontline health workers.
She said the hospital management had ordered all consultants and heads of department to train their staff on proper use of the PPE.
Thirty doctors and three policemen were reported on Monday to have tested positive for Coronavirus.
Sixteen of the infected doctors are members of the in Medical Guild in Lagos State and 14 others are in Katsina State, according to Governor Bello Masari. The three policemen are serving in the Ondo State Command.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Medical Guild Chairman Dr. Oluwajimi Sodipo told news conference in Lagos on Monday that the doctors were engaged in training, contact tracing, surveillance, enlightening of the public and providing clinical care at the isolation centres and hospitals.
He said: “This has unfortunately led to several healthcare workers being infected with COVID-19 and over 16 doctors are isolated so far in the state’s workforce.
“There may be more doctors who are infected, but from the information available to us, 16 of our members are infected with COVID-19.”
Confirming that no fewer than 14 doctors have tested positive for the dreaded virus in his state, Governor Masari, said the government was waging two wars – against coronavirus and unrelenting attacks by bandits.
He told reporters at the Government House that the state has been overwhelmed by the two-pronged fight.
In Ondo, three policemen attached to Yaba Police Division, Ondo town, have tested positive for COVID-19.
They were said to have contracted the disease from a female senior colleague who refused to go for testing despite showing symptoms.
The policemen have been admitted at the state Infectious Disease Hospital, Akure, the state capital.
Sources said the female senior police officer resorted to herbs for treatment rather than go for a test to know her COVID-19 status.
She was exposed by a relative who posted on a WhatsApp platform that her sister has been taking herbs at home to treat herself rather than go to the hospital.
The relative said she cried out so that innocent people around her would not be infected in case she tested positive.
The post reads: “I’m ready to give all information needed. It’s my blood sister. The family members did not know. Neighbourhood people don’t know (about her health condition) and she is drinking herbs.
“Who knows what is happening to other officers too? She is not the only one in Yaba police station, Yaba is a big police station in Ondo town.”
Ondo police spokesman, Tee-Leo Ikoro, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) confirmed that there was an officer, infected with the disease at Yaba Police Division but was not a senior police officer.
Ikoro said: “When I learnt about the matter yesterday, and we investigated it, we discovered that it was the Federal SARS officer in the division that they were referring to and he had been quarantined.” – The Nation