Doctors accuse Kogi state government of frustrating efforts to test patients for COVID-19

The Kogi state government has been accused of frustrating health officials’ effort to test patients who have COVID-19 symptoms in the state.

President of the Association of Resident Doctors, FMC Lokoja, Agwu Nnanna who lamented over the lack of adequate testing in a statement made available to newsmen last night, said the current state of things in the state has increased COVID-19 risk among health workers.

Nnanna also called on the federal ministry of health and the presidential task force on COVID-19 to “rally all relevant stakeholders in Kogi State to ensure that Coronavirus tests are carried out in the state for the safety of health workers,” as they might be forced to take their destinies into their own hands.

He said;

“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 a 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.

“This was against the backdrop of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) 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.

“The federal ministry of health and the presidential task force on COVID-19 should rally all relevant stakeholders in Kogi State to ensure that tests are being done to ensure the safety of the healthcare workers as they are now the most-at-risk population in the state.

“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 7 deaths recorded. We in FMC Lokoja do not wish to be joined in these statistics.”

The is coming after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed that only one Coronavirus test has been carried out in the state in a situation report which countered the state government’s claim of testing 111 patients, which all turned out negative.