Kogi government frustrated Our efforts to carry out Covid-19 test on patients with symptoms – Doctors raise alarm

Resident doctors at the Federal Medical Center, Lokoja have raised an alarm over the Covid-19 free state of Kogi, saying efforts to carry out test on patients have been frustrated by state government thereby exposing them to risk.

Kogi is the only state yet to officially record any case of coronavirus in the country after Cross Rivers. The doctors at the FMC said lack of adequate testing has increased the risk among health workers as Yahaya Bello-led government has been frustrating the efforts to ascertain the presence of the virus in the northcentral state.

Against the backdrop of the NCDC report, Nnanna said that “physicians cannot properly categorize and treat the patients coming into the hospital in accordance with the management protocols.”

“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.”

Nnanna expressed fear that 603 doctors have been exposed, 149 confirmed positive and 7 deaths recorded since the outbreak of the virus in Nigeria.

He called on the stakeholders to ensure that tests are being done to ensure the safety of the healthcare workers.

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,” Nnanna said.