Abia government has warned its health workers to stop rejecting patients with some COVID-19 symptoms until such patients were tested otherwise.
Abia Health Commissioner, Dr Joe Osuji, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Aba on Friday.
Osuji said that at the moment three suspected Coronavirus cases in Abia had tested negative; and with that result, there was no case of the disease in Abia.
He said that even the laboratory test result of one person identified simply as Miracle, and who most people thought had Coronavirus, tested negative.
Osuji also said he received information about a patient, who was rumoured to have died on Thursday of Coronavirus, but it turned out to be untrue.
“What actually happened, as we were made to understand from the report I got last night, was that in one of the hospitals in the state somebody died.
“And because of the patient’s situation, it was rumoured that it was a COVID-19 case.
“I got in touch with the doctor, who looked after the patient and he said the patient had been down with the ailment since last year, 2019.
“So for now we can say that there is no Coronavirus case in Abia, if there is such a case, we will tell you,” he said.
According to the commissioner, it will be wrong hiding such a disease from the people when the disease is not a death sentence and it has no stigma attached.
Osuji added that the attitude of the state’s health workers to patients had aided rumours about the disease being in the state.
He urged the workers not to reject patients who had cough or fever, saying such patients should also not be tagged COVID-19 cases until they tested positive.
“The problem we are having with health institutions now is that when a patient reports cough, or fever to them, they assume it is a COVID-19 case.
“Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, did people not have cases of cough and fever and they go to hospitals and get treated?
“People before now have tuberculosis and were treated before the outbreak of COVID-19.
“So why are our health institutions rejecting people who have come to them for treatment,” he asked.
The commissioner said it was important for health workers who had taken the oath to save lives, to prepare well, guard themselves with protective kits and attend to patients with the right equipment.
“Examine your patients when they come and then make your diagnosis right before calling the COVID-19 Call Centre.
“Then the Rapid Response Team will come and collect the sample and send and when the result comes out, if it is positive, the government will take over the management of the case.
“But if it is negative, the patient should be treated in that facility and be re-integrated into the society,” he said.
Osuji urged `rumour-mongers’ in Abia not to increase resident’s anxiety by peddling false information.
He said that the government would always keep people informed of the situation through the appropriate media.
