Tobias Sylvester
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has warned governors against revealing the identities of Coronavirus patients.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of the NCDC, issued this warning on Wednesday during the daily press briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He called also on political leaders to refrain from announcing details of COVID-19 cases in their States, adding that this was the responsibility of experts.
“We’re really appealing to our leaders across the country. Please, let the experts do the reporting,” he said.
“Nobody should reveal the identity of a patient, even if it’s the first patient in your State. Please, do not reveal the identity of a patient; the circumstances, whether he’s a doctor not.
“We don’t need all of that. This is a virus. They haven’t committed an offence; they haven’t done anything wrong. We have to show empathy towards all our patients; that’s what we signed up to as healthcare workers,” he said.
Ihekweazu stated that political leaders making details of COVID-19 cases public may not be “ill-intentioned”, but the problem is that “they do not understand the ethics and norms of the medical practice and public health.”
