Politics

Coronavirus: Nigerian doctors reject invitation to Chinese medical team

Monday, April 06, 2020 at 11:30 AM by Aanu Adegun

- NMA has rejected the proposed medical team from China

- The association called it an embarrassment to their members

- Meanwhile, the federal government said the Chinese team are only coming to share their experience with NCDC

The plan to invite a medical team from China has been vehemently rejected by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA).

The rejection decision was disclosed by NMA president, Francis Faduyile, in a statement on Sunday, April 5.

He described the move as a misplaced priority and "a thing of embarrassment to the membership of the Association and other health workers who are giving their best in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic under deplorable working conditions.”

However, Garba Abari, director-general of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), claimed the Chinese medical team were only coming to share experiences with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and not to directly take charge of the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Premium Times reports.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the NMA and the Medical Guild in Lagos state have accused the police of harassment.

The medical bodies blamed the commissioner of police in the state Hakeem Odumosu over his statement on the movements of health workers following restriction order.

This was disclosed in separate statements issued by the state NMA and Medical Guild, Vanguard reports.

The Medical Guild, in a statement by its chairman, Dr. Olujimi Sodipo, said: “We strongly urge the CP to retract his directive which will lead to loss of lives of members of the public unnecessarily. We also use this medium to appreciate all our members who have taken up the task of catering for COVID-19 and other patients in all our hospitals. With God’s will, Lagos and Nigeria will soon be declared free of the pandemic.”

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Legit.ng also reported that the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) chapter has warned the federal government that inviting medical experts from China to help in fighting coronavirus pandemic could pose health dangers for the country.

The chairman of the association, Dr Muhammed Adeboye, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, April 4, in Ilorin that the current cases of COVID-19 in the country do not require foreign assistance.

He said Nigeria was not overwhelmed by coronavirus cases and does not need any professional help from any part of the world.

The association warned that any unwarranted eternal help could allow room for foreigners to manipulate the virus to be more harmful to Nigerians.

”Bringing people in can be an avenue for many terrible things to happen as well, because we don’t have the capacity to manipulate viruses whether confirmed or not.