Worsening Cases Of COVID -19 – NMA Discovers The Missing Link

BY CAMI EZENWA

The Nigeria Medical Association may have found the mission link in the efforts of the Lagos State government to effectively contain further spread of COVID-19.

It may also be the reason the virus is spreading fast in other places outside Lagos.

The association fingers the involvement of private hospitals in the management of coronavirus cases in the state as the reason, and has declared so expressly.

In fact, the NMA has advised the state government to stop accommodating the private hospitals in its programme of COVID-19 containment

In a statement jointly signed by Dr Saliu Oseni and Dr Ramon Moronkola, the Lagos State Chairman and Secretary of the association respectively, the NMA held that the private hospitals lacked the capacity for infection control and limited surveillance capability which are critical in handling COVID-19, and that this has resulted in the worsening case of community transmission currently being experienced in the state.

“We are concerned that the state government may have started yielding to the pressures from business concerns who may see this pandemic as a business opportunity, rather than the public health emergency that it is,” the NMA leaders said.

“The association also noted with concern, a document from the Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), which, among other things, plan to accredit private hospitals for the management of COVID-19.

The NMA therefore prays the state government to rescind its position of

It therefore urged the state government to rescind its position, via HEFAMAA, to use the private hospital sector to manage COVID-19 patients.

“It is still more prudent for any suspected case to be isolated in a holding area within the private hospital, while the appropriate government authority is contacted immediately.

“The association will resist any attempt at commercialising the management of this infection as seen in some private health facilities.

“We suggest that the government legislate and criminalise the act of resisting isolation by COVID-19 positive patients in public facilities, as this action has been implicated in jeopardising the efforts of containment.

“We appeal that the public isolation centres should be made conducive for all calibre of patients,” the association chairman and secretary said.

Other positions of the apex professional body for medical practice are:

-The state government should continue to expand the capacity of the isolation centres (locate more in different parts of the state)

– increase the capacity of the holding areas where suspected symptomatic patients could be kept awaiting test result for proper supervision.

– Introduction of house-to-house testing is a positive development, especially in this phase of community transmission.