A team of 15 medics from China, comprising doctors and nurses, arrived Nigeria on Wednesday with medical supplies worth about $1.5m.
They landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja onboard chartered Air Peace aircraft marked 5N-BVE around 4:30pm.
The items and the medics were received by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire and the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian.
A brief ceremony was held to welcome the shipment.
The supplies were facilitated by CCECC as a Corporate Social Responsibility.
Osagie said the Chinese medical team, with expertise in infectious diseases, would be sharing experiences in their successful fight against COVID-19.
“The Corona virus is a novel virus and the experts in Nigeria will like to know more about. So, the Chinese medical team will give us information, not only on the public health aspect, but on the management of the disease, especially their success stories.
He said while the Chinese team would still be in quarantine for two weeks, they would share experiences through teleconference with their Nigerian counterparts.
He confirmed that the Chinese brought in ventilators and other critical medical supplies.
Items brought in by the flight included 16-tons of test kits, ventilators, disinfectant machines, disposable medical masks; medicines, rubber gloves, protective gowns, goggles, face shields, infra-red thermometers and other critical healthcare items.
The Minister of health said there would be no mass testing for now because of the huge population of Nigeria, stressing that the government would rev up the targeted and smart testing on those likely to be affected by the virus.
“Even though it’s going into the secondary level of infections, we will be doing smart testing to detect positive Nigerians,” the minister said.
Pingjian said the medical supplies were worth at $1.5m, but plus the flight expenses, the CCECC spent about $2m on the supplies.
He thanked the Nigerian government for accepting the CCECC intervention.
He said China would never impose medical supplies on any country as the mission was just to share the Chinese experience.
He said the medical team would stay in the initial period of one month.
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has kicked against the importation of Chinese medical experts to tackle the scourge of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
The PDP, in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, argued that Nigerian doctors and nurses had been on top of the situation with records of recoveries and less casualties.
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