Chinese doctors are not our guest - Minister of Health, Ehanire Osagie

The Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire on Thursday May 14 said that the 15-member Chinese doctors who are still in the country are not guests of the Nigerian government.

Speaking at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, Ehanire disclosed that the Chinese medics are staff of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). He further revealed that they are in Nigeria on a Company visa.

The Minister said;

“I think not all of them were doctors and I heard that some of them are technicians, but they are staff of CCECC.

“The Ministry of Health is not their host, so we can’t always explain what happened to them or where they are. There seems to be a lot of interest in these doctors. But they are the staff of the company and I think that they are on a company Visa.

“I will be very happy if you don’t ask me about where they are because they are not really our guests.

“But we have been able to learn some things from them by interacting with them from their experience in their country and they did tell us and we shared ideas on what they did in their country in managing COVID-19.”

Ehanire Osagie also disclosed that they will be revising the conditions for self-isolation for returnees. He stated that only those who meet certain criteria will be permitted to self-isolate.

The Minister added;

“The self-isolate at home is an option we have been talking about. The NCDC has released a guideline for that but not everybody is eligible for that. The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has come up with a very beautiful contribution that creates circumstances under which it is safe for some people who have undergone certain questionnaires to be at home but definitely supervised self-isolation.

“Recent returnees from the United Kingdom, United States of America, and Dubai are still undergoing their routine 14 days of quarantine and there is no report yet because they are still under observation. After 10 or 11 days, they will have their test done to show who is positive or not.”