Nigeria

FG confirms 113 doctors test positive for coronavirus

Friday, May 01, 2020 at 8:32 AM by Akinyemi Akinrujomu

- Health workers who are at the frontline of battling the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria are now becoming infected

- The federal government disclosed this through the health minister, Osagie Ehanire, who said many of the infected health workers were those in private practice

- Ehanire accused doctors in the private practice of taking on coronavirus patients even though they do not have the proper training to treat them

No fewer than 113 doctors have contracted the deadly coronavirus disease across Nigeria, the federal government confirmed on Thursday, April 30.

Daily Trust reports that the confirmation was made by the country's health minister, Dr Osagie Ehanire, during a press briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

The minister confirmed the number while denying fake reports which claimed about 300 doctors had contracted the disease.

He also noted that the infected health workers were largely those in private practice who did not take the necessary precautions while treating patients with the disease secretly.

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“As for 300 doctors testing positive, that’s a fable, there are not so many people in the health sector who are infected. The latest figure we have is that they’re about 113 actually and these 113 are not all public health workers, a good number are from private hospitals," the minister said.

“And you could hear us speaking here frequently against people treating coronavirus in private clinics. We’re actually referring to people who do so without the necessary precautions, without the necessary training. They infect themselves and then go home and give these infections to their family and it’s not the right thing."

The minister warned health workers in private practice who are not duly trained to handle the treatment of the coronavirus to stay away from doing so.

“So, the healthcare workers who have no training have no business actually handling coronavirus patients. As for those who do not have the equipment, we’ve said that we’ve provided PPEs for all the people out there. There’s a global shortage of PPEs, every country is struggling for masks, PPEs.”