Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), on Wednesday, called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency in Kogi and Cross River States to inculcate safety measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the MDCAN, if the situation in the said states continued, they have the capacity to re-infect the whole country with COVID-19.
Both Kogi and Cross River governments have reportedly refused to initiate safety measures against the pandemic and therefore frustrating Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control (NCDC) in instituting testing regime.
Prof Ken Ozoilo, MDCAN’s National President gave the warning in a media briefing in Jos.
“I don’t know what the governors in those states have in mind. What I do know, no matter the efforts of the federal government and the rest of the state governments in controlling the disease, if the two states remain the way they are, they can re-infect the whole country and make a mess of what we have been doing,” the president said.
Prof. Ozoilo said many people had been infected with the disease in the two states and their members were seeing symptoms and signs while the governors were in denial. He said that the stance of the governors cannot be explained by science.
He also accused both Kogi and Cross Rivers States of sabotaging the overall control measures put in place to combat the pandemic.
He added that the MDCAN had given his members’ full approval to shut down hospitals in Kogi and Cross River states and won’t hesitate to escalate the actions should the current situation persist.
