The Abia State Government has warned its health workers to stop rejecting patients with some COVID-19 symptoms until such patients were tested and confirmed positive.
The Abia State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Osuji, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Aba on Friday.
Osuji said at the moment, three suspected Coronavirus Disease cases in Abia State had tested negative.
He said with that result, there was no case of the disease in Abia State.
He said 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.
He said: “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.”
According to the commissioner, it will be wrong hiding such a disease from the people when it was not a death sentence and 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 should also not be tagged COVID-19 cases until they tested positive.
He said: “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?”
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.
Osuji said: “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.”
Osuji urged rumour mongers in Abia State not to increase residents’ anxiety by peddling false information.
He said the government would always keep people informed of the situation through the appropriate media.
NAN.
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