Prof Titus Ibekwe, Chairman National Committee on Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development of the Nigerian Medical Association has advocated for life insurance cover for frontline health workers in the fight against COVID-19.
Ibekwe made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
He described the medical teams as endangered species adding that there was urgent need to provide for their protection.
Ibekwe noted that such life insurance policy would cushion the effects on family members of health workers that may die or permanently injured in the course of rendering services to victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He called for the upward review of N5,000 monthly hazard allowance currently paid to medical doctors and called for its urgent review.
The don urged the government to correct the anomalies and implement a befitting allowance commensurate to the risk taken by medical doctors and indeed all health workers.
“We should start thinking of additional Serological testing for Medics and frontliners to assess their level of immunities before and during deployment.
“Those with evidence of strong immunity should be in the forefront while those with low or no immunity would remain second liners.
“By so doing; we can protect and preserve our geese that lay the golden eggs from undue risks and extinction. WHO is almost through with an efficient and reliable serological kit sensitive and specific for this purpose,” he said.
