The Kogi State Government has received knocks for allegedly defaulting in testing amidst growing concerns of COVID-19 across the country.
The waterlocked state, alongside Cross River, is yet to record a positive case, just as the nation grapples with the highly contagious virus that has consumed almost 300,000 human lives worldwide.
In Nigeria alone, Africa’s biggest economy, more than 2,000 persons spread across 34 states and the Federal Capital have tested positive with concerns mounting over how two states kept hold of its celibacy.
Over time, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) alarmed that the failure to submit samples for testing may be responsible.
” We have looked at the number of samples collected from these states and we are not satisfied. So, we need to test more. But to test more, we need to collect more,” NCDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said in April.
And even though Ihekweazu and his team have received sticks for the nation’s inability to rack up more tests, the infectious disease expert nonetheless admits that this is the only way forward.
“The way you can know whether you have this virus in the early days is to get tested,” he said last week.
“The way we talk about it, we’ve had the largest number of Lassa fever cases in Nigeria ever. We have it because we’ve become more aware, we are testing more and we are finding more. The only way we can understand the scale of COVID-19 is by testing.”
Both states have since dismissed NCDC’s claims. In Kogi, for example, the Yahaya Bello-led government have severely bragged to have the situation under control, with the development of an assessment app.
It said it buit the software around NCDC’s checklist for “suspected and high risk” cases and as at last week it has been visited nearly 200,000 times with over 14,000 completed self-assessments out of which only about 60 presented.
However, Mr Bello was quick to check himself after coming in contact with President Muhammadu Buhari’s late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari who died from Covid-19 complications. He has instead lunged the lives of his people on a supposed computerized package.
Fresh facts have emerged, though, that NCDC may not be far from the truth, if not straddling on the reality, particularly in Kogi.
Investigative journalist, Fisayo, in a series of tweets on Tuesday, revealed that there is a deliberate attempt not to examine potential carriers owing to a number of reasons; ranging from upreparedness of the state government and unavailability of lockdown palliatives.
According to Fisayo, several persons have died from the coronavirus due to utter neglect and many more could follow if nothing urgent is done as the state’s facilities have been contaminated.
“On Saturday, a patient died at FMC, Lokoja, Kogi, after exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. His samples weren’t taken.That was the 4th such death at the FMC last week alone. Not once was the patient’s samples taken, dead or alive,” he began.
” March 22 was the first time this scenario occurred. A patient who came into Kogi from Lagos required a CS. The patient exhibited COVID-19 symptoms, prompting the hospital to request for her to be tested. It was turned down. The patient was isolated for some time. Surgery was done and she was discharged without testing.”
He added, “Last week, there were some patients in the O&G ward who manifested respiratory issues, inability to breathe and other COVID-19 symptoms.Three of them died.
“They would come from private hospitals — one in Lokoja, another in Okene and the third in Ogudu. The first of the trio, Mrs G.I. (her initials), a 43-year-old woman who arrived at the hospital on Thursday, had a temp of 38.8°C. The other 2 had temperatures of more than 40°C.In each case, no sample was taken before or after death.
“Now, on the final day of the week, a patient admitted to the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Ward with a temp of 40.3°C was transferred to the male medical ward. The patient spent 3 hours in the ward and then died. One more patient exhibited potential COVID-19 symptoms on Sunday but moves for sample collection were futile; by yesterday, the patient was dead. I’ve been told there are more suspected cases, but these were the ones I personally tracked.”
Fisayo noted that the instruction not to carry out any test is from the governor.
” Ideally, the FMC ought to notify the Ministry of Health of the need for sample collection if it suspects a case, but the ministry needs to secure the authorisation of the Incident Manager, that is the Commissioner for Health, who directly relates with the NCDC.If the Commissioner says no, end of request! Meanwhile, state hospitals are not even in a position to call the health ministry.
” I understand the instruction from Gov Yahaya Bello is that there should be no testing. I know the question you want to ask and I’ll answer it. But why would the state govt want to hide COVID-19 cases?
“. None of the 3 isolation centres — at SDG/FAREC Clinic, the Kogi State Diagnostics Centre & the Maimuna and Usman Yahaya Foundation Hospital — is ready for use.
” I understand the state has no money to give the people as lockdown palliatives, should there be the need to restrict their movement. But many in Kogi aren’t asking for palliatives; they just want their salaries, which the government is making moves to halve.
” It is unclear why there is no money, as the Bello administration hasn’t executed a single project since its reelection in May 2019 apart from payment of salaries.
” Despite receiving increased federal allocation of late due to a temporary halt of bailout deductions, the state govt was going to pay workers only 50% of their March salaries but the union fought back. April salaries haven’t been paid due to this ongoing disagreement.”
And lastly, Fisayo opined that “for whatever reason, the state government believes the NCDC has politicised COVID-19 cases such that if samples are sent, they will automatically return positive.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has on numerous occasions advised that the only way to combat the virus is to “test, test and more tests”. There is an impending doom in our hands if this isn’t done in Kogi. Kano 2.0 if you will.
