Governor Bello Accused Of Frustrating Efforts To Test Patients With COVID-19 Symptoms In Kogi

Published: May 20, 2020

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello have been accused of frustrating medical efforts to test patients, who have coronavirus symptoms in the state.

This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Association of Resident Doctors, Federal Medical Center, Lokoja, Kogi State.

President of the Association, Dr Nnanna Agwu urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to rally all relevant stakeholders in Kogi State to ensure that tests are being done. The statement reads:

“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 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.”

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“This was against the backdrop of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control 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.
“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 seven deaths recorded. We in FMC Lokoja do not wish to be joined in these statistics.”

KanyiDaily had also reported how Governor Yahaya Bello ordered delegated officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to go into isolation at a quarantine centre for 14 days or leave the state immediately.

The NCDC had sent the delegation after expressing dissatisfaction with the samples collected from Kogi which have not recorded any case of coronavirus.