FRI, MARCH 20 2020-theG&BJournal- You may not have been asked this question. But it is the only question that matters now, in this era of coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Nigeria. Every area of healthcare and policy are already feeling the strain, shaping up as one of the most significant crisis since the Nigerian civil war. Willingly or otherwise, huge disruptions are already on us.
But government and health officials in the country sound on top of the situation already, -quite frequently too. The Federal Government make the citizens believe- that the country’s approach to fighting the disease has been recommended as a global template. Fair enough. In this regard the government is either overestimating itself or is yet to come to terms with the fact that no one knows where this outbreak is headed or what is ahead in the near term.
We are aware that this is not a fight for the government alone. The private sector should be in it too. But they are so far off the frontline now, preferring and preparing to profit from the misery when it spreads. Pharmaceutical companies and retailers are price gouging essential and basic COVID-19 preventive items already, rather than stepping up to help the nation be strong by ramping up production and donating items like hand sanitizers to help fight.
However, the truth is that there is a huge gap between what the doctors, nurses and health workers on the frontline of this raging global pandemic and the Federal Government of Nigeria, is saying.
The health workers are saying:
There is a huge shortage of medical equipment and test kits for the coronavirus
-The country’s hospitals are ill equipped with oxygen and oxygen cylinders (COVID-19 attacks the respiratory system and so requires oxygen for treatment).
-There is personnel shortage because some of the country’s best medical hands have long left the country for opportunities elsewhere
-The ICUs are not prepared and are inadequate
-Disinfectants are in short supply in hospitals all over
-Everything comes from China and for now the shortages are exacerbated because nothing can come through from China.
-Most healthcare workers don’t have the training to handle COVID-19 outbreak
That is what we hear from health workers in the country.
Our questions are similar
-Does State Governments have the supplies they need? Viz; testing kits, masks, oxygen, hand sanitizers etc.
-For how long is the country prepared for the pandemic?
-Does the country have the capacity to do contact tracing?
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Director of Health Emergency Program Mike Ryan, has an answer for us. He said, ‘’it is possible to do contact tracing even under the most difficult circumstances, but it does require a real scale-up in public health capacity.’’ Currently, Lagos state is saddled with contact tracing of about 3000 individuals, most of whom may have left the state to other states.
-Does Lagos have the capacity for contact tracing?
-How many Nigerians know where to go for test and where it is available besides the toll free lines provided by state governments and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)?
There are more and more information that an individual can transmit even when they are asymptomatic, that one person could spread it to 1000 persons.
We are approaching the rainy season when people cluster more indoors and coronavirus thrives in the cooler climes and in congested environment.
We believe that the Federal Government has done quite well in informing the citizens of the dangers of the outbreak and has gone quickly to put palliatives and other globally required measures in place but we do urge them to do more and act on the concerns expressed by the Nigerian Health workers before the rain comes down on us.
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