Last month, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State asked a delegation of Nigeria Center for Disease and Control (NCDC) and ministry of health to go on 14 days isolation or leave the state immediately.
Prior to their visit, Director General of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu who had expressed dissatisfaction with the samples collected from Kogi and Cross Rivers states, said more tests need to be done.
Noah Andrew, who is the leader of the delegation from Abuja to Kogi state government house, presented a letter titled: “Deployment of Rapid Response Squad to helping COVID-19” to the governor, explaining the mission of the health officials in the state.
Andrew said; “we are here to support the state in shipping swabs and samples and ascertain the preparedness of the state in fighting COVID-19.”
In response to their letter, Bello has outlined steps taken so far by the state to fight pandemic.
Bello said that the state is highly experienced in fighting infectious diseases such as lassa fever and malaria, adding that the experience has been brought to bear in fighting COVID-19.
He consequently asked NCDC officials be subjected to testings and isolated in the state quarantine centre or should leave the state, and the NCDC left the state.
It is obvious that lassa fever and malaria are still prevalent with the Kogites and as such, it is incomparable with almighty COVID-19. Nigerians especially Kogites are seeing malaria, typhoid among others as a normal and common sickness as the causes cannot be taking care off.
When was the last time Governor Bello address Kogites on how to tackle malaria since he assumed office as a Governor of Kogi State? Has mosquito, which has been the primary causes of malaria, been eroded from existence in Kogi state?
Besides, even the acclaimed lassa faver, has it been defeated absolutely in the state?
It is worthy to state here that no any affected state has asked NCDC officials to quarantine for 14 days or they should leave, except the confluence state. A position which has caused reaction across the nation.
What does it take Governor Bello to allow the health agency to do their work and leave? What is he scared of or was he thinking that NCDC would declared him COVID-19 patient because he had contact with former Chief of Staff to President Buhari, Abba Kyari that died of COVID-19?
What are you hiding from your citizens?
For the golden rule of transparency, you have to run an open government. You are not a medical doctor and I don’t think you possess any moral or professional right to declare Kogi State COVID-19 free.
Last month in Cross River state, the Nigeria Center for Disease and Control commended the state government for taking proactive measures against the spread of COVID-19. NCDC said from all indications, the state is free from the virus, which has affected about 10,000 Nigerians.
TheCable reported last week that Godwin (not real name) visited one of the hospitals in Kogi state capital to report that he was having coronavirus symptoms. According to a doctor who saw him, Godwin’s head was aching and his body was hot like it was being microwaved; his coughs dry and continuous; his heart in pains while his oxygen saturation point was 80 percent, far below the minimum 95 percent when a patient needs supplemental oxygen.
“He has the complications (similar to COVID-19) already,” a doctor at the Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, said, and when asked to re-confirm if the patient truly had chest pains and other symptoms, he responded: “He has all of it. So, that one, you know that the probability that it is corona (common reference to the coronavirus among Nigerians) is very high.”
On Wednesday night, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) finally announced two positive cases of COVID-19 in Kogi state after weeks of drama, but the state government quickly issued a statement rejecting the results and maintaining that the state is still free of the coronavirus.
In reality, many patients report to FMC and Kogi Specialist Hospital after having symptoms similar to those of COVID-19, but none of them gets tested, causing panic among doctors and residents.
“We are not testing so you can’t say,” said the doctor at FMC who, like most others who spoke to TheCable, asked not to be mentioned for fear of being persecuted by the state authority. The state government is believed to have warned health professionals and other workers against divulging any information.
At FMC and the Kogi Specialist Hospital, many doctors and other hospital staff declined to speak on the issue when approached by TheCable.
“We don’t want any trouble,” a staff member said while those who agreed to talk did so anonymously.
Prior to Wednesday, Kogi had no record of coronavirus because of lack of test. But the state recorded its first two cases on Wednesday. Sadly, many residents have described COVID-19 as a hoax. Very little or nothing in Kogi shows Nigeria is currently battling a pandemic or that the federal capital territory which it shares a boundary with, has so far recorded not less than 500 cases, thereby exposing residents to the risk of infection.
It was reported that Kogites are not following the NCDC directives to combat COVID-19 spread in the state, many on the roads were without face masks, movement flowed freely through the streets, businesses boomed, social distancing was ignored while entry and exit to and fro Abuja was without hitches despite the ban on inter-state travel.
Kabir Zubari, chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in the state, said his colleagues are apprehensive, and worried about their safety having been left in the dark.
“They (the state) believe that until a patient has all the features, may be history of travel or contact with infected patients, you cannot be tested. That is basically the reason (for lack of testing),” he said, but added that “when you are waiting for all the features, you may not get it.”
“There is a lot of politics going on. Everybody is apprehensive as we speak, because you may not know what you are dealing with. We have heard in other states about doctors unknowingly treating some patients and getting infected.”
Samuel Obajemu, chairman of the Kogi chapter of the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), expressed similar concerns, saying the process of testing is “taking time”.
“You can see activities here and there; people live their life carefree and in the end, we in the health sector are at the receiving end.
“The state has procured antigen-based testing kits and we hope they set it up soon but it is taking time for this to be done. Let us just have that belief there is no COVID-19 because if there was, maybe it would have killed so many people as seen in Kano,” he said.
A senior doctor at FMC who crave not to be named said “a patient who reported symptoms of coronavirus and later ran away because of stigma; two other patients with severe symptoms have also died at the hospital recently.
“Because we are not having these tests, you cannot for sure say this is a case of coronavirus. That is where the dilemma comes for us.
“If somebody comes and says they are having fever, cough and the person is restless and having difficulty in breathing, as far as we are in this COVID era, you must have a high index of suspicion because you don’t know who that person has come in contact with.
“Some (patients who reported symptoms related to those of the virus) were treated and got better and were discharged. They are treated based on the symptoms they are presenting. We have an instance where somebody absconded; where the person went, nobody knows.
“There are some instances where people died, may be two; they came into the hospital and after a short while, they died. But if it is a normal setting and there is no COVID, it is not unusual that somebody comes to the hospital with severe symptoms and after a while, the person dies.”
From he foregoing, it is incumbent upon us to ask questions and keep the leaders on their toes. What is Yahaya Bello actually hiding from the masses?
– Ojimaojo Y. Abubakar writes from Abuja.
